


Blueprints

by UnderTheSilentStars



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Background Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Keith will probably kill him, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Rating has gone up!, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, lance is oblivious, non-binary Pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-22 05:43:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 51,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7422148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderTheSilentStars/pseuds/UnderTheSilentStars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"While soulmarks themselves were common, it was rare for someone to have anything other than the name of their other half...and Lance had a red paw print." </p><p>Soulmark AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

       “Yeah, probably means my soulmate is a super-hot ginger who loves cats.” Lance boasted, his shirt slightly raised to show off the tattoo on his left hip. It was tiny, about the size of an actual cat paw, with claw marks topping each of the small toes. It was a vibrant colored red which was striking against his olive skin. If it had been an ink tattoo, it would've been entirely underwhelming, but it wasn't ink; it was magic. The paw peeked right above the hem of his pants, allowing easy access to his audience.

  
      His peers marveled at it, one daring enough to reach out and lightly touch the exposed skin, all of them oohing and ahhing when contact was made. The attention made Lance’s shit-eating grin even wider. It was only his first official day at the flight academy and he was already loving it. He was determined to be number one and stand out, and his uncommon soulmark was just the way to hit the ground running.  
While soulmarks themselves were common, it was rare for someone to have anything other than the name of their other half. Soulmarks were meant to be easy maps to each other, but there was a lot of room for things to go wrong. People could have only a first or a last name instead of both. One of Lance’s cousins had the misfortune of just having Dan on her arm. _Do you know how many Dans there are in the world, Lance?!_ Was the single most uttered phrase from her mouth. He had even heard of some real shitty circumstances like people whose soulmark was a cryptograph that needed an unknown cipher. Yet nearly every person on the planet had a name in some form, and Lance had a red paw print.

  
       There were thousands of myths about why only a whopping .5% of the population got tiny pictures, but in reality it was unknown. Lance liked to believe it meant that he and his soulmate were even more connected than other people, but he had no way to prove it. Besides, voicing that opinion came off as real douchey to the remaining 99.5% of the world. The most convincing theory, and the one Lance actually felt comfortable talking about, was that the souls would be bonded the same way in every reincarnation. The bodies would change, but the image would be important in every lifetime.

Lance could care less about the science behind why humans had them, and was much more intrigued by how they influenced daily life. Whenever he touched the paw print, Lance felt a tingling warmth on his hip. Which he would have assumed was just an endorphin rush from excitement if it wasn't common knowledge that all marks were emotionally connected. Every time he touched his tattoo, his soulmate could feel it. Somewhere out there, was the love of his life, and whenever she touched her soulmark, if she was happy or sad or angry, Lance could feel it- all from a little touch. He liked to show off and brag, but deep down Lance was marveled by the universe and how lucky he was to have such a connection.

       “Must mean she has a tattoo of a small brown piece of sh-” a voice said above the small yet lively crowd.

  
       “Nobody asked you, Keith!” Lance all but screamed at his smirking rival. The two of them had been paired together during evaluation for the academy and no matter what Lance did, Keith always pulled slightly ahead. It drove him insane, and that alone was enough to make him hate his competitor. Keith being a complete asshole was just the cherry on top of the hate cake. “I bet you don’t even have a soulmark since you’re such a jerk!”

  
      Keith rolled his eyes, “Of course I do, idiot. I’ve only ever met, like, two people who don’t.” Most of the people who did not have a soulmark were a-romantic and were more than okay with not having a cosmic pre-destined partner. Some, however, were people who wanted romantic love, and were devastated once they discovered they had no soulmate. Lance shuddered, not even wanting to think about what that must be like.

  
       Just the idea of that kind of loneliness made Lance reach for his own mark. He realized that by doing so, she would be feeling his anxiety which made him immediately switch to reassurance. He didn't want her to worry after all! Sure he didn’t know her name, but that didn’t matter. He was going to find her someday and love the shit out of her. Until then, he was happy knowing that her hip was tingling right that second; she knew that he was sending her a happy, loving warmth.

  
       While Lance had zoned out, Keith’s demeanor changed drastically. His cheeks had a red flush, and his mocking tone was replaced with annoyance bordering on disgust “Like I have anything to prove to you anyway.” he muttered before storming away, not bothering to look back even once.

  
      “Yeah, keep walking, buddy.” Lance called after him, half expecting a retort. Keith turned down the hall and as soon as he was out of sight, Lance muttered, “Asshole.” He turned to the group he was originally conversing with, most of them a little shocked by the exchange they just witnessed. Lance reached up and rubbed the back of his head, grinning awkwardly to expel some of the tension, “So have any of you guys met your soulmates yet?!”

✧✧✧

 

        Keith slammed the door behind him, his cheeks still flushed and his heart pounding. _This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening_ he repeated to himself like a mantra, as if saying it enough would make it true. He had suspected, of course. It would have been naïve not to at least entertain the idea, but there was a big difference between suspicion and tangible proof. A difference so big Keith felt like he had swallowed a lead balloon. He lifted his shirt to look down at the little blue cause of his agony.

He had felt it as soon as that idiot touched his hip.

First the anxiety, but then the calming warmth that only a loving soulmark touch could give.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was almost titled "Red Beans" because Lance would 1000% call cat toes "beans" 
> 
> Please let me know if you need anything at all to be tagged! Also there is a solid chance of the rating going up to M, because of who I am as a person.
> 
> I'm on [Tumblr](http://underthesilentstars.tumblr.com/)  
> Come say hello to me!


	2. Resurgence Part I

         “Nope. No- no you- no. No, no, no. No you don’t. I’m saving Shiro”

          _‘Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me’_ Keith thought, watching Lance waltz into the middle of his rescue mission. It had been over a year since the last time Keith saw that face, and over four years since the last time they’ve spoken. Yet there he was, picking up Shiro’s other arm, like it was the most arbitrary decision in the world. He felt his stomach churn. Keith had mentally and physically prepared for this night for months, he was not prepared to see his long-lost best friend _and_ his soulmate.

            After their first day at the flight academy, Keith had done everything and anything to avoid any interaction with Lance. It was obvious that Lance despised him. It was equally obvious that he had no idea that Keith was the very soulmate he boasted about on a weekly basis. Flight school was only for two years, a fact Keith had to remind himself of everyday, and then he would be off to the Galaxy Garrison to learn about space exploration. The Garrison was far away from Lance, and would teach him how to get as far away as humanly possible. Keith held hope that soulmarks couldn't work on Pluto. Until then, it was easier for Keith to hide his secret if he didn’t have to look at Lance’s stupidly beautiful face.

            Lance would tell anyone with ears about how much he hated Keith, but every night Keith would still feel his hip tingle, warm and filled with love. He didn’t understand how a person who was so obnoxious in the presence of others could convey such a gentle sweetness with only a touch. And every night Keith would send back touches laced with love and joy. Lance had no idea what he was doing, and it wasn’t Keith’s job to deny him of his soulmate; punish him for a crime he wasn’t aware he was committing. Lance was so willing to give, and Keith didn’t want to ruin that, especially since he assumed it was the idiot’s only redeeming quality. Aside from that, even though he would never admit it, Keith _liked_ bonding with his soulmate. They were soulmates for fucks sake- they were supposed to be this way, not like how they were face to face.

            Keith endured it for two full years at the Flight Academy, and by graduation he was at the end of his proverbial string. Two years of dealing with the yo-yo that was being Lance’s arch rival and true love. He had done exceedingly well at the academy, and was ready for his next steps. He was especially ready to be away from Lance for the first time since learning about their connection.

            The universe, of course, had other ideas. Keith remembered seeing Lance at his first day at the Galaxy Garrison and very nearly fainted. It was like seeing a ghost, an annoying yet somehow attractive ghost. At the very least, much to Keith’s amusement, Lance had been placed as a cargo pilot so even though they were in the same class, their interactions were minimal. But Keith still had to pretend like he wasn’t seeing the love of his life down the hall, which started to un-nerve him. His only saving grace was Shiro, the only person he ever told about his little blue paw-print.

            Shiro had taken Keith under his wing for his first few months at the Garrison. They were both fighter-pilots, and were paired together for Keith's first year orientation. He couldn’t explain it, but Keith had a deep connection with the older boy from day one, which only grew stronger as time went on. Keith wasn't doing his best, but he certainly wasn't at his worst thanks to his mentor.  It wasn’t until Shiro told Keith that he’d be leaving for the Kerberos Mission that Keith told him about Lance. He didn’t want anyone else on Earth to know, and he knew that it would technically be true again as soon as his only ally was gone.  

            By the time Shiro left Keith was a ticking time bomb. He went from silent to volatile at a moment’s notice. The weight of his world and being alone was too much. Every time he saw Lance he was a cocktail of anger, frustration, and self-loathing. It wasn't fair that Lance got to live everyday with beautiful ‘what-ifs’ of his soulmate. It wasn't fair that if Keith came clean they'd both be miserable forever. It wasn't fair that Keith kept this to himself so that he could take advantage of Lance to still have his touches. He didn't last a month before he was kicked out for insubordination.

        That had been a year ago; an entire year almost completely isolated from the world. Lance reached out multiple times a day, it was the one thing keeping him going and the one thing tearing him apart as he planned for The Arrival.

            Keith had immediately been drawn to the desert while he was looking for a new place to call home. He found the empty cabin, and while it wasn’t ideal, it was at least far away from Lance. He felt an energy reaching into him, pulling him farther out into the desert every day. He had no idea where he was going, just that he was being lead in the right direction. Each day he would venture out farther and farther, and Keith finally started to feel like himself again. He finally had a part of him that had nothing to do with Lance.

            After several weeks, Keith was lead to the entrance of a cave. He felt the energy buzzing around him; this is where he was meant to be. He took a deep breath and entered the cave, not prepared for the sight before him. _‘Of fucking course’_ Dozens on blue lions lined the walls. Keith lifted his shirt to glare at his blue paw-print, “Why does it always have to be about you?!” his fingers brushed his hip and he knew that Lance got hit with a wave of shock and anger. Moments later Keith felt Lance’s concern course through him, spiraling his anger further.

            Once Keith had gotten over his initial shock, he dedicated his time to decoding the stories each of the blue lions had to tell. The universe had pulled him here for a reason, the least he could do was try to figure out why. All of them were unique, and they all told of an important arrival happening. Keith didn’t know what that meant, only that he had to be prepared to retrieve whatever it was when it happened.

            When the night came and he saw the ship crash he almost let out a sigh of relief, ‘ _Finally, something happening according to plan.’_

Keith could kick himself for thinking that. He looked at Lance, now only inches away from him. It had been so long since the last time Keith saw those eyes, that smile. That damned confidence! Keith had to take him down a few pegs if the asshole thought he could stride in and take over, “Who are you?” The look on Lance’s face alone had been worth it.

      “Who am I?! Uh the name’s Lance!” Lance paused, but Keith still wouldn't give in. “We were in the same class at the Garrison.”

      “Really? Are you an engineer?”

     “No, I'm a pilot!” Keith had to stop himself from snickering at the now nearly frantic boy in front of him. “We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”

    Neck and neck his ass! “Oh wait I remember you. You're a cargo pilot.” Sure it was petty, but Keith had been top of his class- he loved Lance but he wasn't about to let him think for one second they were in the same tier.   

    “Well not anymore, I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out.”

      Keith felt a surge of pride and wanted to grab Lance immediately. He wanted to touch his soulmark and show him how proud and happy he was- send him warmth and elation, but he couldn't. All he could do was say, “Well congratulations.”

         Their exchange was interrupted by cadets coming in, seeing them about to escape with their prisoner. Panicked, the group fled from Shiro’s quarantine tent onto Keith’s bike, and by some miracle they actually managed to escape to his cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone so much for your kind word, kudos, and bookmarks!! I had originally planned on posting one huge chapter later this week, but this way you get it faster and it'll be easier to digest.  
> The next chapter or two (depending on how it's split) is going to be heavily framed around the first episode. I don't want to recap the entire thing which is why there are jumps. After that it will be split from the canon universe.  
> Also I currently do not have a Beta so let me know if there are any typos so I can swoop in and fix them!
> 
> Again I want to thank all of you so much <3 If you have any questions or comments ask me here or my [Tumblr](http://underthesilentstars.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also I'll be tagging anything related to this 'vld blueprints' so if anyone wants updates from me or wants to post anything themselves that's the best way!


	3. Resurgence Part II

         By the time the group managed to make it back to Keith’s cabin, the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. As soon as the bike stopped, Lance declared that he was going to sleep and that no one could stop him. His two companions rolled their eyes at the melodrama, but ultimately agreed, following him inside. Keith couldn't begin to even think about sleep. The last few hours had felt like they were moving in frantic fast-forward and now he had to confront the sudden stand still.

        Shiro must have felt the same way, as the both of them began to walk a short distance away from the cabin to watch the sunrise. The pair was silent. If yesterday Keith was told that in twelve hours he’d be watching the sunrise with Shiro while Lance slept on his couch, he would've laughed.

            “How did you know to come save me when I crashed?” Compared to the comfortable silence they just shared, to Keith this question was as loud as thunder. He sighed and knew that he was in the calm before the storm. He told Shiro to follow him inside and help wake the others after they had a chance to rest.

            Once everyone was gathered and properly introduced to each other, Keith led them to his small working area. He pulled off a curtain to reveal the board he had been working on ever since he first arrived out in the desert. He explained how the energy force pulled him to the grouping of caves that started his research. His heart was pounding and he had to try his best to not keep looking at Lance.

            “The caves are covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion.” He paused, daring to quickly glance at his soulmate, making sure he hadn't caught on yet, “All share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night then you showed up.”

            Between Hunk’s findings in Pidge’s journal and Keith’s own research, they realized that somehow the caves were linked to Voltron, a weapon Shiro had vaguely learned about during the time he was captured. Hunk was able to physically map out the alien energy with aide from an unknowing Pidge. As soon as Keith compared the graph to the outline of the boulders he had been visiting, they knew they had to get to the caves as quickly as they could.

            Keith led them down into the caves, all of them marveling at the ancient markings. As Shiro was questioning Keith about them, Lance walked over to the picture closest to him and lightly wiped away some of the dust. All around them, the markings began to light up. Keith felt panic well up inside of him, “They’ve never done that before!” In the entire year Keith had touched and studied the caves, they’ve never glowed that all-too-similar shade of blue.

            Before Keith could suggest going back to his cabin, the floor began to shake and gave out beneath them. With a loud crash they landed at the very bottom of the cave. Lance was the first to get up, but all of them were quick to rise when they realized what was directly in front of them.

            Keith got up and stared at his soulmate’s destiny. When he discovered the cave with blue lions, he knew that Lance would somehow be connected to them, but the second he looked at the thing that he assumed to be Voltron, he knew that Lance would be the one to power it. He ran ahead of the others, a mix of giddy and petrified. This lion- this Voltron- whatever it was, this was what the universe chose to be Keith’s symbol to find Lance.

            “Does anyone else get the feeling that this is staring at them?” Lance blurted out.

            “…No?”

            “Yeah. The eyes are totally following me.”

            Keith rolled his eyes and smiled, knowing that Lance couldn’t see it. Of course the lion was following only him, it was his. Keith felt a little guilty for knowing before the other boy, but he had to savor the last few moments before Lance figured it out.  

            Keith got to the force-field first and locked eyes with the Blue Lion, her eyes glimmering for just a second. Even though this lion was meant for Lance, she recognized him too. The glimmer was almost a taunt; as if to tell Keith she knew exactly who he was. Lance was the one who was connected with her, but Keith was the one who bore her mark. He quickly looked away and held out his hands to lightly investigate the blue force-field separating them.

            He knew that it was really only a matter of time before Lance connected the lion to his own soulmark. He was almost positive that somewhere around here would be something red for him and it would be the end. “I wonder how we get through this.” He said quietly, only half referring to the force-field.

            “Maybe you just have to try.” Lance’s nonchalant tone pulled him out of his own mind. Of course that’s what the ass would say. Keith looked over to him, knowing that would definitely not be Lance’s answer if he knew what Keith actually meant.

            Lance knocked against the force-field and it dissipated. Keith suddenly had a vision of five lions; yellow, red, black, green, and blue forming a giant robot.

            “Uh did everyone just see that?” Lance asked, everyone looking shocked enough to not warrant the question.

            “….Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!” Hunk screamed excitedly. Pidge pointed out that that this was only one part and Keith looked over to Lance.

            Now he was certain that Lance must have had a clue, but he didn’t even look at Keith. Even with seeing a _red lion_ Lance still couldn’t connect his _red paw-print_ to the situation, “Incredible.” He huffed out.

            The Blue Lion lowered her face to allow entrance to the group of five, Lance taking seat at the captain’s chair.

✧✧✧

            Lance sat down and the chair immediately brought him forward to the control panel. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but knew that it was _him_ who was meant to do it. He suddenly felt the Blue Lion connect with him in a way not completely foreign. He could feel her emotions and could feel what she wanted him to do.

            “Did you guys hear that?!” He had to be sure that it was only him who could feel this.

            “Hear what?”

            “I think it’s communicating with me….like how soulmarks work kinda?” He peered down and examined the ship closer, he could feel her guiding him, and he started to press buttons. She roared loudly and got up. She urged him to take command of the console, “Okay. Got it. Now, let’s try this!” Lance smirked as he took his four companions on the worst flight any of them had ever been on.

            Keith gripped his shoulder tightly, “You. Are the worst pilot. Ever!”

            _‘Dick’_

Hunk was next to him, about to throw up, “Make it stop!”

            Lance bit his lip, “I’m not making it do anything it’s like it’s on autopilot. She said there’s an alien ship approaching Earth and we have to stop it!”

            Pidge was on his other side, glaring at him, “What did it say _exactly_?”

            “It’s not like she’s saying words. It’s more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of.” He paused, “I know you have a soulmark, Pidge, it’s working exactly like that!” He paused, “Whoa, guys, what if the lion is my soulmate?”

            The rest of the group ignored the ridiculous thought as the Lion brought them into space and closer to the alien ship. The ship began to attack them, but Lance was able to land a few blows before leading the enemy ship away from Earth. While that was good, they also now had to figure out how to get away from scary powerful aliens. He pointed out that the other ship wasn’t attacking them anymore, just chasing them, and it was making ground.

            Before they could discuss it further, a strange portal appeared directly in front of them, “What. Is that?” Hunk asked, his level of done very evident.

            “This may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there.” She kept sending him messages of protection, and he couldn’t tell the others why, but he already trusted her. None of them knew where the Lion was taking them, but they all knew that she hadn’t steered them wrong yet. They all agreed to trust her, but more importantly to trust Lance. Pidge placed their hand on Lance’s shoulder, the final vote to go full speed ahead, “Alright. Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow!” Lance exclaimed, going full force into the portal, sealing their fates forever.

             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this extra fast because Blueprints officially got over 500 kudos!! You guys are the best :)  
> That being said there probably are some spelling or formatting errors- if you see any let me know!  
> And as always come say hi to me/ask me questions/be my friend: [Tumblr](http://underthesilentstars.tumblr.com/)


	4. Resurgence Part III

            If someone had asked Lance how he thought he’d spend his day, flying a robot lion filled with his two best friends, his rival, and his hero through a portal would not have been his first guess. Yet the group of five found themselves on the other side, no longer being attacked, and approaching an Earth-like planet galaxies away from home. While Lance had nothing but confidence in Blue, his ship-mates were beginning to be more skeptical.

            Hunk was clinging to his friend’s arm for dear life, his post-puke breath causing Lance to cringe. His face was pressed closely to Lance’s for comfort, “Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?” He backed up to address Lance specifically, “Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?”

            Lance felt deeply offended that Hunk didn’t trust his lion. Blue had _saved_ them. She’s the one who wanted to keep them safe and now she was getting questioned! When he pointed that out, Keith had something to say about it, of course. Lance looked back to retort, and was taken aback by how deep and blue Keith’s eyes were. He had never actually been this close to the other boy, and couldn’t help but notice that even though he was being a sarcastic piece of shit, he was a pretty decent looking sarcastic piece of shit.

            “Oh are you scared?” he taunted, he would love nothing more than to hear that Keith was afraid while Lance was being the hero.

            “With you at the helm? Terrified.”

            Not exactly the response Lance was hoping for, but before he could take it further, Shiro stepped in and took control. He asked Lance where they were headed but he honestly had no idea since Blue stopped talking to him. He knew he had to lighten the mood though, and get everyone to relax a little, “Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shh!” he lowered his voice, somehow keeping his composure, “Listen, I think I hear something.” He smirked and let out a slow and deliberate fart causing the other four members to groan, _‘Mission accomplished’_ he laughed to himself and pointed out the castle just ahead of them.

            After landing, Blue let out a roar causing everyone except Lance to panic. The door to the castle opened, allowing the humans to enter. They were lead down a long and winding corridor, taking them to what seemed to be a control room. Two coffin-like vessels with frosted glass emerged from the ground, one of them opening to reveal a woman. _‘A beautiful woman’_ Lance thought.

            “Father!” She called out, before tumbling toward the ground. Lance caught her in his arms, and blushed slightly. She looked up at him with the most crystal blue eyes he had ever seen, and he was already half in love. He began to theorize how she was related to a red cat paw. “Your ears…” She began, “They’re hideous. What’s wrong with them?”

            _‘Jesus Christ, never mind that then!’_ was his last thought before she suddenly had him nearly crying in a chokehold.

            “Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?” She demanded, nearly ripping Lance’s, apparently hideous, ear off.

            Lance nearly cried out ‘uncle’ before saying, “A giant blue lion brought us here! That’s all we know!”

            She demanded to know how he got ahold of Blue in the first place, as if he had any say in the matter. She then asked how long it’s been, and she had officially lost him.

            When it was obvious that no one could answer her, she went to the control panel to open the other vessel. An eccentric man with the same pointy ears and accent sprang into action. While he and Lance conversed, the woman stayed at the control panel, frantically typing, when she finally discovered that they had been asleep for ten thousand years. Their entire civilization had been wiped away due to someone or something called Zarkon.

            Shiro gasped, revealing he had suddenly remembered that name as soon as she said it. He told the woman that Zarkon, somehow still alive, was the alien that had captured him, and that he was on a quest to find Voltron. The woman knew that they would have to find Voltron first if they had any chance of saving the rest of the galaxy.

✧✧✧

            Keith watched the Princess closely, not sure if he could trust her and her companion just yet. He stayed to the side with Lance annoyingly close to him. This was the longest he had gone without touching his soulmark and it was starting to irritate him. He had no idea how to deal with the fact that he wanted to reach out to the person literally right next to him but couldn’t.   
            An alarm on the console starting blaring, pulling Keith out his pensiveness.   
            “A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran exclaimed.   
            The princess gasped, “How did they find us?”  
            “I’m not sure, but I bet it’s Keith’s fault.” Lance said, crossing his arms.  
            _‘That little shit I swear to god if he wasn’t my soulmate I would kill him’_ Keith made a face of disgust before saying, “Say whatever you’ve got to say to make yourself feel better.” He turned closer to him, his anger bubbling more ferociously, “After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!”   
            Lance was suddenly close, too close for Keith’s comfort. His forehead was practically touching his own, and Keith cursed himself for wishing for closeness only moments before. Lance was so close to him that Keith could smell him, a weird mix of sweat, cologne, and something unknown that was so unbelievably Lance.   
            “I’ll stick you in a wormhole!” That was it, soulmate or no, Keith was absolutely going to kill this boy. Luckily, before doing something he would regret, Shiro pulled Lance away. A small part of Keith cried out in protest. Shiro reprimanded them for wanting to blame each other, and Lance lifted up his arms in a manner that was meant to intimidate Keith.   
            Allura stopped their nonsense to tell the group of five that they would be forming Voltron to stop the coming alien ship. Keith felt dread creep into every pore of his body. He had expected this, but now it was actually happening. Allura would assign him the red lion and Lance would figure it out. Lance would know that they were soulmates. Keith would actually have to deal with the duality of simultaneously wanting to kill Lance and also kiss him. He wasn’t ready.   
            “As you have found, the lions choose their pilots.” Allura began, “It is a mystical bond that cannot be forced.” Keith knew, he knew that he and Lance were destined to pilot the red and blue lion their whole lives. Mystical bond was just scraping the surface of how much of a role destiny played.   
            “The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.” Keith wasn’t surprised at all. Shiro had been the only reason that team had managed to get this far. He had still hoped that maybe somehow he would get a color other than red. Maybe the soulmarks were wrong and maybe that beautiful idiot would be bound to someone else. Keith pouted, not liking how uncomfortable that thought suddenly made him.   
            Allura went down the list, giving Pidge the Green Lion and Hunk the Yellow Lion. Keith knew he was the only one left. He knew it was happening- he was about to be outed. “The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It’s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable.” By this point, Keith was blatantly staring at Lance. There was only one color and one Paladin left. He had to be piecing it together. “Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more in instincts than skill alone.”   
            The tiny hologram floated right between Keith and Lance. Lance’s arms were crossed and he wasn’t looking at Keith at all. His heart was about to beat out of his chest. He decided that he would just feign innocence and tell Lance he had no idea. Allura’s voice finally voiced the nail in the coffin, “Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.”  
            Keith waited for the world to implode. He waited for Lance to scream and demand to see Keith’s hip and still not believe it. He waited for the explosion and for the two of them to be forcibly separated so they wouldn’t kill each other. He waited for Lance to start going off in Spanish about how the world wasn’t fair and that he got stuck with the worst soulmate of all time. Keith waited.  
            Lance did nothing.   
            _‘…It couldn’t be.’  
            _ The rest of the team began to plan for the attack on the alien ship and Keith was three seconds away from having an aneurism. The universe tied him to a fucking moron.   
            He had no idea how it was possible for Lance not to put together Red Pawprint with Red Lion- then suddenly he remembered every time he had heard Lance talk about his soulmate when they were younger. _  
“Yeah_ she _was up late last night with me, upset about something.”  
            “It’s not like _ her _to not respond right away.”  
            “Oh man I can’t wait to meet _ her _!”_  
            Keith shut his eyes tight, Lance thought his soulmate was a woman. That was why he wasn’t putting it together. Lance must have only experienced romantic attraction to women in his life and had not yet had his Bisexual Awakening. Keith suppressed a small groan. He had a lion to find and an alien to fight, he’d deal with Lance’s inevitable gay panic another day.

✧✧✧

            Lance laid in his new bed in his new room in his new castle home after fighting with his new team in his new lion robot. It had been quite the day. The five of them had somehow managed to find the lions, form Voltron, and win the battle- but just barely. They still had a long way to go before they were an actual team. Especially him and Keith. Lance groaned, wondering how on Earth he managed to get pulled into intergalactic heroism with his least favorite person.   
            He sighed and lifted up his shirt to place his hand on his soulmark, the only thing he knew that could make him feel better no matter what. He sent her love and longing but they were laced with guilt. He had no idea how long it would take to defeat Zarkon, no idea when he’d be back home to find her. Suddenly, Lance felt back love, but also sleepiness. He chuckled, taking his hand off to let her sleep. Over the years, Lance had fallen more and more in love with her.   
            She wasn’t as emotional as he was, but she was always there for him when he needed. Even though they weren’t together, they shared each other’s joy and sadness. The thought of Lance dying for the universe before having a chance to meet her filled him with a type of dread he had never experienced before. He was happy his hand was off his hip, because if she felt that she would’ve stayed up all night with him. She was amazing, and he did not want for her to have to be alone.  
            “No matter what it takes, I’ll find you.” He said, not knowing he already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT AN IDIOT 
> 
> This is the end of the beginning arc! Next chapter is gonna have Bonding Time for team voltron! You guys are the best and your kudos and comments mean the world to me<3 
> 
> Again- un BETA'd so let me know about typos.


	5. An Arrangement

A sigh of relief escaped his lips as Keith opened the doors to the training deck. It had already been two whole weeks since he found himself piloting a robotic space lion to defend the universe from evil alien dictators. Yet somehow that wasn’t the cause of his stress and his desperate need to be distracted. He had been so careful since they arrived in space, and he almost blew it all to shit during their last battle.

            It hadn’t been his fault, it was absolutely Lance’s fault for being so damn dependent on his soulmark. The fight had taken a turn for the worst, and even though Lance was making quips and laughing, Keith could feel him panicking. Usually, Keith was good at mitigating the sensation enough to just reply via touch and continue fighting, but this time it had been too overwhelming. Lance’s emotions were like a flood inside his body, and he could do nothing to stop it despite feeling calm himself. Lance had never sent him anything as strong as the regret and love at that moment in his whole life. Lance thought he was going to die.

            “Lance, relax. Everything is going to be okay, I promise.”

            The team went silent, save Hunk who let out an “Uhhhhhhh.”

            Keith, who had only intended to think that phrase, immediately wished he could shove the words back into his mouth. Lance hadn’t figured out that Keith was his soulmate yet, and Keith had handed him a banner with neon flashing lights.

            Finally Lance had broken the awkward silence, “Pshh, like I’m the one who needs to calm down. _You_ sound pretty stressed, buddy I-”

            “Enough, you two!” Shiro cut him off, “Seriously, we have enough to deal with right now without you two bickering!” The rest of the battle went on normally, and Keith didn’t feel anything else from Lance. He didn’t know if everyone forgot about it, or if they all just decided to never speak of it again, but either way he was grateful.

            Keith knew he was on borrowed time. Even though two weeks had felt like a long time, compared to how long it would take to fight Zarkon, two weeks was nothing. Either Lance would figure it out on his own, or Keith would go crazy enough and just show him in fit of desperation. Regardless, he knew he couldn’t live with the stress of the secret forever and would have to come clean eventually.

            Eventually, however, did not mean right now. He needed to clear his head and be away from the pretty-boy that was causing him to develop an ulcer. Which is how Keith found himself beating the life out of fifty some-odd practice drones.

            He got the last one in the simulation and wiped sweat from his brow with the bottom of his shirt. Behind him, he heard slow clapping. Dropping the shirt like it was made of fire, he turned to see Lance.

            “Very nice, very nice.” Lance entered the fighting space with a smirk, “let’s see how do against an actual fighter.”

            Keith rolled his eyes, “Okay, go grab one for me and I’ll spar with them.”

            Lance’s suave attitude dropped instantly and was replaced with the indignation of a toddler “ _Okay first of all how DARE-”_

“Relax! Relax, I’m joking.” He was such a drama queen sometimes, “You really want to spar?”

            Lance shrugged, “Everyone keeps yelling at us to bond more and this is probably the only activity where I can both bond with and beat the crud of you.”

            Keith smirked, “Yeah, if you can manage to land a hit.” He gestured for Lance to join him in the middle of the room, “Come on, let’s see how you do with hand-to-hand combat.”

            Lance shrugged off his jacket and before Keith could ask what he was doing, his shirt slipped off too. Keith looked down, he was not ready to see Lance stride towards him, soulmark out in all its glory. Keith always referred to him as pretty boy, appropriate since Lance was the only one of the paladins who had a beauty regimen and exfoliated regularly, but that was no boy walking toward him.

            Lance was, and Keith hated it, tall, dark, and handsome. Now he was that _and_ half naked. He hoped that Lance would jab his nose, that way if he got a nosebleed he could blame it on that instead of Lance’s six-pack.

            The two boys met in the middle of the deck. Keith bowed, waiting for Lance to follow suit. Lance let out a noise of confusion before also bowing quickly. Before Lance could even move, Keith shot out his leg to sweep Lance off his feet.

            He fell to the padded floor with an ‘oomph’ and Keith chuckled before offering his hand to help him up.

            “What _the shit_ was that, dude, oh my god!” Lance cried out, getting up without Keith’s help.  

            “Taekwondo!” Lance’s face looked blank, “Korean form of martial arts?” Keith tried, but Lance still looked like he had no idea what he was talking about. “When I said I wanted to do hand-to-hand combat what were you expecting?”

            Lance shrugged, “My hand-to-hand experience is throwing my younger siblings and cousins around when they wanted to wrestle.” He smiled sheepishly and Keith buried his face in his hands to stifle a groan. “Come on, I was a pilot! I’ve never had use for Karate or-“

            “Taekwondo!”

            “Sure, yeah, that. I didn’t need to know how to fight…until all this.” Lance’s tone became somber and gestured to the room surrounding them. Keith knew exactly what he meant. None of them had been prepared. Suddenly Lance gasped loudly and grabbed ahold of Keith’s shoulders and grinned, “Keith, you can teach me Karate!”

            “Lance, what?” Keith removed Lance’s hands forcefully, “First of all, it’s taekwondo. Get it right. Second of all, it takes a lot of dedication and practice and _time._ That is something we don’t have a lot of to begin with.”

            Lance grabbed his shoulders again, “Keith, buddy, man, I promise I will be the best student. We can wake up early-” Keith cut him off with a snort and Lance’s excitement momentarily dropped, “Rude. Anyway as I was saying, we can wake up early to train and, and, I’ll pay you somehow!”

            Keith was intrigued, “With what?” it wasn’t like they received weekly paychecks for being defenders of the universe.

            “Uh. Um. Hmm.” Lance looked up to the ceiling, “I….can teach you how to socialize like an actual person?”

            “And we’re done here.” Keith turned around to leave, but Lance grabbed his hand, sending a wave of electricity through his whole body.

            “Seriously, I will think of a way to pay you. Maybe once we’re home but.” Lance dropped Keith’s hand and placed it on his soulmark, looking down towards it “I don’t want to be defenseless outside Blue. I don’t know if you’ve met your soulmate, but I haven’t met mine yet and.” He paused, looking up to meet Keith’s eyes, “For her. I need a way to make sure I stay safe, for her.”

            Lance’s deep worry was circling inside of him like a tornado. All of the anxiety and precaution and drive to learn, just so he wouldn’t be abandoning someone, who in Lance’s mind, he hadn’t even met yet. It was the most selfless thing he had seen the paladin do, and it was all for him. No one had ever loved him like that before.

            “Okay.” Keith finally said quietly.

            “Really?” Lance held out his arms as if to give him a hug, but Keith put his arm out.

            “Yes, really, but!” He held out his finger to make sure Lance was concentrating “We are getting here at six am every day which means you have to wake up _before_ six. We’re gonna practice for an hour or more and don’t expect to master it in a week and get frustrated and give up when you don’t.”

            Lance was beaming and nodding at every word Keith said, “Thank you! Thank you, so much, Keith, you have no idea what this means to me!”

            Keith looked down to his own covered soulmark, he had every idea. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't in my outline at all this was supposed to be a small intro paragraph for the next chapter and it....kept going.....
> 
> WHO saw the season two trailer because I didn't even see it I just heard what happened and honestly I'm Not Okay™ 
> 
> Also I love all of you so much you are all so nice and I love reading and responding to everyone in the comments and on Tumblr and just wow. I did not expect this to take off the way it did? I'm so? (◡‿◡✿)


	6. Junbi

            “ _Shijak_.”

            Lance took a deep breath to center himself and thrust his leg into the air, aiming for Keith’s side. He got close, but his hit was blocked before he was able to make contact. He bounced on the balls of his feet, just the way Keith had taught him, waiting for him to strike. Keith brought his leg up quickly to hit Lance’s side, but he was able to use his own leg to block the move. Lance smiled, proud of himself, and backed up slightly. Keeping his footing, he struck again. Keith dodged out of the way, brought his leg up and jabbed Lance in the side.

            “ _Junbi. Shijak_!”

            Lance returned to starting position and with another deep breath, began the sequence of moves again. They continued the pattern of kicks and blocks until Keith managed to knock him off his feet with a sweep. Lance plummeted to the mat and let out a scream of frustration before sprawling out his limbs in defeat. “I’m never gonna get this!”

            Keith extended his hand, “Stop whining, you’ve made a lot of improvement already. I told you, you’re not going to master this quickly.” He paused and smirked, “Besides you can spar with me for a whole minute now instead of three seconds.”

            Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and hoisted himself up, “Wow, that half assed compliment is probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me!”

            Keith rolled his eyes but was smiling, “Have you worked on the list of Korean terms at all?”

            Lance had received a huge list of definitions scrawled out in Keith’s terrible handwriting. There were at least fifty words Keith wanted him to memorize and that was just to start. He tried to look at the list every night, but lately had just been passing out when it was time for bed. Defending the universe was exhausting, let alone defending the universe and learning taekwondo from the world’s harshest instructor. “Not really” Lance admitted. Keith looked vexed. “I will, I will! Besides it’s not like there’s gonna be an exam on this stuff!” He paused and looked to Keith nervously, “There’s…not right?”

            “Lance if you’re not going to take this seriously-”

            “I am!” He cut off. “Look, and don’t tell Shiro because he would kill me for saying this, but I’m taking this even more seriously than Voltron training, okay?” Keith’s eyes widening and Lance’s confession. “Piloting is easy and I’ve been doing it for years so I joke around and try stupid things, but this I’m taking seriously, I promise. I’m just tired, man.”

            Keith put his hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed, “Go get some water and rest for a few minutes.” Lance was grateful that he understood. Keith could be a pain the ass, but at least he saw how much he was trying. “We’ll work on your blocking next, it needs a lot of work.”

            “Ahh there’s the Keith I know and love.”

            Lance went to the side of the room where he left his belongings and grabbed his water bottle. It had only been a week since Keith started training him, but he had already made some progress. He hated getting up so early, especially since the bad guys didn’t seem to care about his bedtime, but it had been worth it. Keith went really hard on him but didn’t expect anything else from the spitfire.

            Before he could take a sip, he felt his soulmark bubble with warmth and a surge of love hit him, going from his hip and then radiating throughout his body. He smiled to himself, making sure he was turned away from Keith so that he wouldn’t see his lovestruck expression. He lifted the bottom of his shirt and placed his fingers delicately on the mark. He sent love and excitement back to her, and wondered where she was right at that moment. She rarely initiated contact so it always made Lance wonder what made her do it the few times she did.

            As the last traces of her left his system, lance gulped down his water. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he had been. It helped, but he still felt overheated from exerting himself. He took the second bottle he packed and held it to his face for a moment, reveling in the cold, before deciding to dump the whole thing over his head. He smiled, it was heavenly. When he looked back over Keith was staring at him, jaw slightly agape, “What? Did you want this one? My bad, dude.” Lance pushed back his hair to avoid getting water in his eyes and waited for his teammate to respond.

            Keith’s mouth closed and formed a tight line, “You’re an idiot.”

            Before Lance could retort, Allura’s voice boomed through the castle’s PA system, “Paladins! Come meet in the common area in ten minutes. We have important training to do.”

            Her voice cut out and Lance looked to Keith, “What kind of important training could possibly happen in the common area?”

            “I have no idea, but we should get going. We’ll do an extra half hour tomorrow morning to make up for it.” Lance picked up the rest of his belongings and the pair walked out of the training deck.

            The walk was quiet, Lance not knowing what to say to Keith outside of training or battle. Most of their communication was either them fighting or working on actual physical fighting. They never had the chance to just _talk_. The only sound in the hallway was the light drip of water falling from Lance’s hair. “You’re making a mess.” Keith said to him.

            Lance grinned sheepishly, “Don’t tell Coran it was me, okay?” He blushed, a little embarrassed by his impulsive decision. He expected Keith to brush him off or make fun of him like he usually did, but he nodded seriously. “Thanks, man.” Lance said sincerely. He angled toward Keith a little, “So are we, like, friends now?”

            It was something that Lance wanted to ask him for a while. When they rescued Shiro, it was like their rivalry picked up right where it left off. Forming Voltron had changed that for Lance though. It hadn’t even been a month, but Lance felt a shift in his relationship with Keith. In school, Lance wanted to one-up the other boy any chance he could; he would have done almost anything to be better. Now they were on a team, and he still wanted to show off, but he was also happy when Keith accomplished something daring and great. He had, somehow, started actually liking Keith. Adding the taekwondo lessons had just made his new-found affection stronger. He looked forward to the lessons, and he looked forward to spending one-on-one time with Keith.  

            Keith tilted his head toward the ceiling and put his hands behind his head, “I mean I guess so.” He turned his head to look Lance in the eye, “You still hate me?”

            “Nah.” Lance looked to his feet, “And I didn’t _really_ hate you.”

            Keith snickered loudly, “Yeah you did.”

            “Aw come on! I’m being serious. I didn’t hate you I just.” He stopped walking and tried to think of a way to tell Keith what he was thinking without losing his dignity, “You were always better than me. At everything.”

            Keith blinked and looked at Lance quizzically, “And?”

            Lance narrowed his eyes, of course that was his response. “ _And_ it sucked! I wanted to come in first at least once but every time I tried, there you were. I hated that, I guess, but not you.”

            “Lance you told literally every person in our school that you hated me! You told _me_ you hated me!” He had. And now he felt really shitty about it, but hey the past was the past!

            “Yeah and now I’m telling you I don’t!” He said excitedly. He swung his arm around Keith’s shoulder, and started walking again, moving them both forward, “Come on, we don’t want to keep Allura waiting!”

             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Junbi : Get ready  
> Shijak: Start 
> 
> OKAY so I've been watching some taekwondo videos on youtube and doing some light reading- but I don't know anything about martial arts. If something in here is wrong let me know!!!  
> Friends, we are all on the same page about the season 2 trailer wow. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!!  
> Next chapter is already started so hopefully the next update won't be too long!  
> You are all amazing and thank you <3
> 
> **It has been brought to my attention this is the correct form of the word I was looking for. Thank you all SO MUCH for helping me!!! <3 You're all wonderful and I love you :3


	7. Knotted

            Keith and Lance made their way to the common area where the rest of the team had already congregated. Allura stood at the front of the room, beaming. “Alright Paladins, now that you’re all here, today everyone will be working on team building exercises!”  Keith immediately turned to walk out of the room, but Allura grabbed him by the collar before he could escape. “Everyone, that includes you, Keith!” Keith crossed his arms and leaned against one of the pillars.

            Hunk raised his hand. “Uh why are we doing team building exercises if we’re already a team and also why is Lance’s head soaking wet?”

            Lance smirked, “It’s Keith’s fault.”

            “ _What_ are you talking about?” Lance looked to his side and Keith was already steaming. He didn’t care if the two of them became the bestest best friends in the galaxy, Lance’s favorite past time would always be annoying the shit out him. He smiled coyly until Keith caught on to his joke. When he finally did, he muttered something under his breath before taking a seat next to Shiro.

            Lance plopped himself down next to Hunk, “Keithy here is teaching me taekwondo and I got a little hot so I poured my water bottle over my head.”

            Hunk inhaled excitedly, “Dude! I want to learn taekwondo!” He looked to Keith and grinned, “How are you teaching Lance something without killing him?”

            “It’s….difficult to say the least.” Keith replied.

            “And after that beautiful moment we shared in the hallway!” Lance placed the back of his hand to his forehead and sprawled himself onto Hunk’s shoulder to show how deeply Keith’s words cut him, “We’re doomed to always be rivals, Keith!”

            The rest of the team laughed, including Keith. His laughter was a rare sound and Lance felt a surge of pride for being the one to cause it.

            Shiro, ever the voice of reason, elevated his voice to get everyone back on track, “Alright, team. Let Allura tell us the exercises for today. We’ve worked hard on this.”  

            “Thank you, Shiro.” Allura said, giving him a small smile. “As a team you are getting better but I still see you struggling to be a cohesive unit outside of Voltron. You all need to bond! Even when you’re not Voltron, you have to be _one_.”

            She had a good point. They had gotten forming Voltron down, but they struggled with battles and making decisions as a team. Lance hated to admit it, but a huge part of the problem was him and Keith. Lance was too stubborn and Keith was too impulsive. Their conflicting approaches sometimes benefited the team, but more often than not led to disaster. The two of them seemed to have the realization simultaneously and made eye-contact with each other before quickly breaking away.

            Shiro stood up with a smile, “The first thing we’re doing is the Human Knot.” Hunk, Pidge, and Lance groaned loudly and voiced their protests. “I know we’ve all done it a bunch of times at the Garrison but that’s because it’s helpful.”

            The Human Knot was Lance’s least favorite part of training, hands down. He had to successfully complete one with Hunk and Pidge before they were allowed to do any simulator exercises. Between the size difference of Pidge and Hunk and Lance’s inability to listen to anyone else, it took them weeks before they could do it. Now they wanted to add Shiro and Mr. Loner into the mix.

            They formed a circle in the middle of the common area and placed their hands in the middle, grabbing each other at random. Shiro led them for the first couple of steps, and Lance was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it was going. “Shiro, I know you’re the leader but let everyone work with each other.” Allura said. Shiro backed off, letting everyone have a chance to take the lead.

            It was the beginning of the end. Hunk wound up connected to Lance’s left hand, the two of them reaching across Pidge and Shiro, and Keith was to his right, with his arm crossing in front of Lance while holding hands with Shiro’s other side. “Lance, go under my arm.”

            “What? No way, you go under!”

            Keith already looked irritated, “You have to go under my arm so that this,” he shook his limb crossing Lance, “becomes a straight line.”

            “You’re shorter than me, you should have to duck!”

            “That has nothing to do with it!” Keith yelled, yanking his arm so that Lance nearly fell forward.

            “Easy!” Shiro’s voice boomed, “Lance go under Keith’s arm and then lift your other so Pidge can go under and straighten out….I think.”

            Lance groaned and ducked under Keith’s arm. Pidge was untangled from him and Hunk but now Keith’s arm was up and around his shoulder instead of across his chest. Due to their height difference Keith was pressed up to Lance, his entire front flushed to Lance’s back. Lance tried to shimmy away, but Keith’s arm just wound up next to his shoulder, still connected to someone else across the circle, making it so Lance couldn’t move.

            He couldn’t explain it, but Lance actually liked the feeling of having Keith physically close to him. He knew they were getting emotionally close, and Lance was in general a pretty touchy feely guy, but that still didn’t explain why having Keith’s arm around him made him feel content. Not knowing what to say, Lance relied on his go-to method of dealing with situations: wisecracking.  “Try not to get a boner back there, dude.”

            Pidge and Hunk were doubled over in laughter while Shiro and Allura scolded him for being so vulgar. All the exact reactions he had expected except for Keith, who was silent through the ordeal. Lance didn’t like that at all. He was supposed to blow up and call him an idiot and even storm off to end the exercise, but he just stayed quiet. Eventually, they managed to become mostly detangled and Allura decided that they got close enough to call it quits. After two more games that went about as well as the Human Knot, Team Voltron was tired, agitated, and ready to call it a day.  

            “Alright, one last activity.” Allura said, lightly bringing her hands together.

            “Nooo!” Pidge whined, collapsed on the couch and using Shiro as a human pillow.

            “This one is quick and you can remain sitting…or lying, in your case Pidge.” They made a noncommittal noise and sat back up. “Everyone is going to share a fun fact about themselves!”

            Lance beamed, he always had the best answer for activities that required sharing personal information, “My soulmark-”

            “Oh my god! Lance everyone knows about your soulmark!” Pidge exclaimed.

            “Shiro and Allura don’t know! They’re part of the team too!” Lance defended. He lifted up his shirt, “I have a red paw-print for a soulmark instead of a name.” he boasted, “Pretty rare, pretty rare.”

            Allura rushed over to him and lowered her face to examine the mark, making Lance blush “What is this? A tattoo?” Her hand reached out to lightly touch it, “What is its significance?”

            “You don’t have Soulmarks on Altea?” Shiro asked, getting up to stand beside her. She shook her head, still engrossed with Lance’s hip. “They’re usually the name of someone’s soulmate, so that you have a map to them. Lance’s is a symbol so his soulmate has something to do with a red Pawprint.”

            “Humans actually have blueprints for their courtship? How fascinating!” She looked up to Lance, “Is Keith your soulmate then? Since he pilots the Red Lion?”

            Lance felt his soul exit his body. He never thought about that. “What?!” Lance cried out, tugging his shirt back down. “I think I would know if my soulmate was standing two feet away from me on a daily basis!” He looked over to Keith, desperate for him to back him up, “Right?” He paused and approached the red paladin, “Show me your hip.”

            “I can’t show you my soulmark.” Keith said taking a step back. “It’s…not on my hip it’s on the back of my thigh.”

            Lance was still approaching him, “What is it though, Keith?” His voice was shrill by this point, panic evident to everyone in the room. He never even considered that Keith would be his soulmate! It would make sense that a red lion would be symbolized with a red paw print, but there was no way that his lifetime rival was supposed to be the love of his life!

            “Lance relax, it’s not you. I have a name.”

            “What name!?”

            “Matthew Holt.”        

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why_the_fuck_you_lion.jpg


	8. Fight or Flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please see tag changes!

            Keith discovered a new meaning to the word panic the moment Allura said ‘blueprints.’ His heart began to beat a mile a minute thinking of his own particular blue print, and the look of terror on his soulmate’s face once the very obvious puzzle was put together. Adrenaline rushed through his system, while his brain tried to decide to fight or flight.

            Keith had two options.

            Option One: Fight. A huge part of Keith wanted nothing more than to deal with this situation by punching Lance in the face. Rendering Lance unconscious would stop his questioning, and would also stop him from looking like a child who was told Santa wasn’t real for the first time. However, the others would probably not like him jabbing their teammate in the face unprovoked…probably.

            Option Two: Flight. Keith could run out of the room and refuse to acknowledge any of Lance’s questions. Even if he did manage to escape without anyone following him, it would mean that everyone, most importantly Lance, would know that they were soulmates. Pandora’s Box would be unleashed, and Keith was not ready to deal with the aftermath.

            With both options leading to undesirable outcomes, there was only one thing left for Keith to do: Lie. Lie to everyone now and fix it later when he could handle it. For a fraction of a second, he thought about telling the truth. He thought about gently lifting the hem of his shirt and showing Lance his beautiful ice-blue Pawprint. He thought that he could do it, deal with the shitshow one day at a time, but then Lance started walking toward him.

            “Show me your hip.” He had never seen someone look so terrified in his life. He couldn’t do it to him. He couldn’t cause Lance’s world to come crashing down in one second, not like that.

            “I can’t show you my soulmark. It’s…not on my hip it’s on the back of my thigh.” Lance may have had a lack of boundaries, but Keith was fairly confident that he wouldn’t pull down his pants. He hoped that would be enough to get him to back down.

            “What is it though, Keith?” Lance asked, still encroaching on his space. The desperation on his face was getting deeper. It had never been clearer to Keith that Lance would never accept him as his soulmate.

            “Lance relax, it’s not you. I have a name.”

            “What name!?”

            Keith had to pick a name that Lance recognized that way he would actually believe he was telling the truth. He also had to pick a real person who could never refute what Keith was lying about. For a moment, he considered Shiro since he already knew, but that would have been asked to be proven on the spot. Keith needed someone both believable and silent, and he could only think of one person who was both, “Matthew Holt.”

            Lance stopped dead in his tracks. At first he looked relived, but then a more somber look took over his face, “Dude, isn’t that…?”

            Keith looked past Lance to Shiro and could see his disappointment laced with sympathy. Keith silently begged and finally Shiro said, “Yes, Lance, that’s the Matt from my mission.”  

            Lance closed the distance between him and Keith and put his hand on his shoulder, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

            Keith refused to make eye contact and brushed Lance’s hand off with a shrug, “Don’t bring it up again.” He turned to Allura, “That’s enough bonding for me.” He walked out of the common area, not bothering to look behind him.

✧✧✧

            Shiro understood. He remembered the day Keith had confessed about his soulmark like it was yesterday. He understood that Keith wasn’t ready for Lance to know. He understood that Keith was convinced Lance would reject him on the spot. He understood why Keith wanted to lie. He did _not_ understand how Keith managed to pick the worst possible name to lie with.

            Shiro knew from day one that Pidge Gunderson was actually Katie Holt. He had traveled with Matt long enough to recognize the same wide green eyes and petite nose on Pidge’s face. Even with all of their hair cut off, Shiro recognized them. He, apparently, was the only one.

            As soon as Keith had said Matt’s name he felt dread fill his stomach like sludge. He dared to steal a look at Pidge and sure enough they looked angry and confused. Matt and Pidge were always close, so naturally they knew immediately that Keith had lied. He looked back over to Keith, who looked like a trapped animal. He understood, but he was disappointed.

            As soon as Keith left the room, Shiro was not surprised to see Pidge following. They were trying to remain calm, but he could practically see the steam coming out of their head.

            “Shiro, a moment?” Allura pulled him to the side and lowered her voice, “What happened to Matt?” Her eyes were wide with concern.

            Shiro let out a sad sigh, “He was abducted by Zarkon too, but I have no idea what happened to him, if he’s alive or…”

            Allura closed her eyes tightly, “Oh, poor Keith.” It wasn’t his place to tell Keith’s secret, but Shiro felt his heartstrings tug with conflict. He didn’t want to lie to Allura, but also didn’t want to betray his friend.

            Before he could say anything, Hunk approached them, dragging Lance behind him by the collar, “We’re gonna make a nice dinner for everyone tonight to dispel some of the tension. Hopefully a little Hunk lovin’ will lift our spirits!”  Shiro smiled, grateful for his friend’s selflessness. “Let’s go, sous-chef!” Lance whined, but ultimately let Hunk drag him to the kitchen.

            With an empty nest, Shiro and Allura were able to relax, their leader roles momentarily put to the side.

            “I can’t believe that Lance has a red Pawprint and that Keith isn’t his soulmate. What are the odds of that?” She paused, her pondering gaze turning into one of mischief, “Maybe…I’m going to get the mice to spy on Keith and see-”

            She was cut off by Shiro laughing and shaking his head. Allura had learned about soulmarks fifteen minutes ago and was already more perceptive than Lance had been in his entire life. He decided that he wasn’t going to tell her Keith’s secret, but that didn’t mean he would interfere with any of her scheming. The poor kid had already accidentally outed himself to Pidge, that seemed like enough for one day.

            “Where is your soulmark, Shiro?” Allura’s voice held an airiness that was too casual, as if she was trying to seem like she didn’t care.

            Shiro smiled to himself. The two of them had taken on the roles of leader, but also of Mom and Dad to Team Voltron. They discussed mission strategy the way parents discussed report cards. They had a partnership that had blossomed into a flirtation, and now she was asking who his soulmate was.

            For the first time in his life, Shiro was happy to say, “I don’t have one.”

            Allura’s brow furred, “That’s possible?”

            “Yes, but extremely uncommon.” He smirked lightly, “Lucky me, right?”

            She grabbed his hand, “You must have been devastated.”

            “I was, for a while.”  He turned from her and looked out the window to see the seemingly never-ending expanse of stars and his heart swelled, “But then I decided to become a pilot and go to space. Who better to send away for months at a time than someone who doesn’t have a soulmate? No romantic relationship, no one waiting at home, no kids, no sudden rush of feelings distracting you from a mission.”

             He met her eyes and she still looked sad. He closed the space between them and enveloped her in his arms, “I’m happy I don’t have a soulmark.” He squeezed her lightly and rested his cheek against her head, “If I did, I never would have met you.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't even finished responding to the comments in my inbox yet I'm so sorry!! All of you are so supportive and kind!!! I love you<3  
> I wrote this chapter out by hand on the train and then typed it. It is 1am. There are probably some spelling errors. 
> 
> This was originally chapter 3 of the outline. P R O G R E S S  
> but guess what next chapter is  
> PIDGE FINDING KEITH (ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿


	9. Revelations

            By the time Keith reached the outside of his bedroom, his heartrate finally began to slow down enough that he could process the mess he had just managed to create. He let out a frustrated yell and punched the wall next to him, hoping to release some of the cacophony inside him. He punched it again, and again, before finally resting his forehead against the cool surface. A sob was forming at the base of his throat but he swallowed it back down. He tried to muster the strength to punch the wall again, but couldn’t, his fist resting next to his head.

            It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t goddamn fair that the universe dealt him this fate. It wasn’t fair that the one person meant to love him just moved from hating him to mildly tolerating him, and that he didn’t even have the option to love anyone else. It wasn’t fair that Lance got to prance around gushing about his true love to anyone who would listen while Keith had to lie. All his life he held on hope that someday the person with the other paw print would finally show him what love was. Instead he was trying not to cry in the middle of space, entirely alone.

            Or so he thought. He heard a sudden, “Hey!” and turned to see Pidge storming down the hall, looking angry enough to take on the entirety of the Galra fleet alone. Keith had enough. He had no idea what Pidge was angry about but he didn’t have the emotional strength to deal with it. He turned to face them, and their expression immediately changed from anger to soft confusion. He knew he felt like the world was crashing down, and their change in demeanor confirmed that he looked like it too.  

            Pidge slowly walked over to Keith, their expression remaining calm and their movements slow so that Keith could stop them at any time. Keith couldn’t make eye contact with them, but had a feeling he knew what was about to happen. Pidge got toe to toe with Keith, reached out their hand, and slowly lifted the bottom of Keith’s shirt, revealing his blue paw print.

            “Why did you lie?” They asked, no trace of the anger that Keith had been expecting. Their tone was firm, and if anything sad, but the anger had completely vanished.

            Keith roughly tugged his shirt down, making Pidge take a step back, “I think Lance would rather have Sendak as a soulmate over me.”

            Pidge rolled their eyes, “I wouldn’t take it that far.”

            “You saw his face!” Keith gestured to the common room, “Did that look like the face of someone who would accept that I’m their soulmate?”

            “It’s not like he really has a choice!” Pidge had a point, and Keith knew that. He knew that someday Lance would have to know and whatever happened after that was entirely up to him. Whether he wanted to be together or not, Keith would always love him.

            “What did you want me to do, Pidge? Say ‘Oh yeah! Surprise Lance we _are_ soulmates! And guess what! I’ve known for years! Let’s get married when we’re done fighting the Galra Empire!’?”

            Pidge jabbed Keith in the chest with their finger, “That would have been better than what you actually said!”

            “Wait! Wait a second!” The realization hit Keith like a ton of bricks, “Why did you follow me…unless!” His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer to Pidge, “How did you know that I was lying?” The only person in that room who should have known that he had lied was Shiro.

            Pidge sighed and sat down, sliding against the wall their way down. They patted the spot next to them, gesturing for Keith to sit. “Well since I know your secret it’s only fair that you know mine.” Pidge reached into their pocket and took out their picture.

            “You and your girlfriend? That’s not a secret, Hunk showed us that picture-”

            Pidge cut him off and pointed to each figure in the picture, “That’s me, and that’s Matthew Holt, my brother. My brother who has a soulmate named Amir. Last time I checked, that isn’t you.”

            Keith felt shame creep up his reddening ears. Of all the names in the universe, he managed to pick the brother of Pidge’s secret identity. He took the picture and examined it closely. He had no idea how he didn’t piece together that the two people in the picture were related, they were nearly identical. He handed the picture back and dropped his head to his knees, “At this rate everyone is going to know before Lance does.”

            Pidge rubbed Keith’s back soothingly, “Who else knows?”

            “Just the two of us and Shiro. I told him years ago when I first found out. I just needed someone other than me to know what I was going through, someone to talk to.”

            “Well, now you have me to talk to too.”

            Keith looked over to Pidge and smiled, “I do, and now you have me. Does anyone else know?”

            Pidge shook their head, “No, you’re the only one I’ve told. My legal name is actually Katie Holt by the way.”

            “So if you were born Katie Holt, how did you become Pidge Gunderson?”

            Pidge smiled sheepishly, “As Katie I broke into the Garrison too many times and got blacklisted so I had to make a new identity to become a student, so I became Pidge Gunderson: tech extraordinaire!”

            Keith paused and thought carefully about how to phrase his next question, “Do you want me to refer to you as Katie or Pidge?”

            Pidge laughed, “I…somedays I feel like Pidge and other days I feel more like Katie. Most days I feel somewhere in the middle. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

            Keith grabbed Pidge’s shoulder to make them look him in the eye, “Nothing is wrong with you, Pidge. Don’t ever think that. Pidge or Katie, you’re still my teammate, and you’re still my friend.”

            Tears welled up in Pidge’s eyes and they nodded, “I like gender neutral, I think. ‘They/them’ as pronouns fits better than he or she.”

            “I can do that.”

            Pidge nodded, and then rested their head on Keith’s shoulder, “Thank you…just don’t tell the other’s yet, okay?”

            “You mean you have a secret that you’re not ready to share with everyone yet?! I couldn’t imagine what that feels like!”      

            “Shut up!” They rolled their eyes making Keith chuckle. He stood up and then held his hands out for Pidge. They took ahold of both and hoisted themselves up. Instead of letting go, Pidge looped their arms around Keith’s middle and squeezed, “Thank you.”

            Keith hesitated for a second, not able to remember the last time someone was so forwardly affectionate toward him. His expression softened and he wrapped his arms around Pidge, "That's what friends are for."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friends, [lunaartgallery](http://lunaartgallery.tumblr.com) made [fanart](http://lunaartgallery.tumblr.com/post/148820976704/i-really-like-the-whole-soulmatemark-au-thing) for this and I cried because of how beautiful it is. 
> 
> I really like this chapter and I hope you do too! Thank you everyone for the love and support<3


	10. Aperitif

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****Please see rating change*****  
> This chapter contains mature content!

            Lance was confused. He was on his bed staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Hunk fired him from the kitchen after only ten minutes since he had insisted on using his executive rights as sous-chef to add red pepper flakes to every part of the meal. So he had to pass the time until dinner would be ready. Hunk said it would only be an hour; too much time to wait around at the table, but too little time to do anything productive. He was stuck with himself.

            His hand was lightly playing with his soulmark, and he knew that his soulmate was only getting flittering feelings of contemplation. He had always assumed that his soulmate was a woman, which made sense since he had always identified as straight, but now he wasn’t so sure. All of his life had been about finding ‘her’, loving ‘her’, but after the altercation with Keith, Lance was starting to believe that there was a possibility that his soulmate could actually be a man.

            Not to say that Lance still didn’t love the ladies, but he would be lying if he said he hadn’t found some boys pretty, especially Keith. Not that he _wanted_ Keith to be his soulmate, but he still felt a lingering sense of an emotion he couldn’t quite place when Keith had said his soulmark was a name, and not a complimentary blue paw print.

            In the moment he had panicked. He never even considered a guy, let alone _Keith_. It felt like the universe had come crashing down when Allura had flippantly asked if they were soulmates. Just the thought of it made him nearly faint! He had mentally compared it to James Bond being soulmates with one of his villains: kind of hot, but mostly wrong. Now, alone, he thought that maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if it were true. He would’ve been shocked, but there were worse people to be soulmates with! Keith was strong and he was even funny once in a blue moon. He was handsome as hell despite the mullet, dedicated and fiery when they were in battle…

            Lance got lost in thought and hadn’t realized he had been touching his soulmark until he felt a rush of happiness from them. He blushed, he had been feeling admiration but hadn’t actually been thinking of them, he had been thinking of Keith. He had been thinking of Keith! “Ohh this is bad. This is so bad.” He muttered to himself. Making sure his hand was as far away as possible from his hip, he let it sink in:

            He had a crush on Keith.

            Lance had a huge gay crush for fucking Impulsive McMullet. Of all the people in the world, he managed to develop a crush on the one who lived for mocking him. The one person who would constantly one up him and be happy about it, and the one who Lance had formed a rivalry with. But also, the one who was patient while teaching him taekwondo, the one who always had his back in battle, and the one who Lance had formed a deep friendship with.

            Lance squeezed his eyes shut and tried to dissipate the thought. He couldn’t think of Keith that way, it wasn’t right. They weren’t soulmates, and somewhere Lance had a perfect match that he had to think of. He couldn’t think about liking Keith, period. He couldn’t think of the way Keith’s arm and back muscles looked when they spared. He definitely couldn’t think about the sexy smirk on his face whenever he won. Or the way his eyes sparkled when Lance managed to do something right or the way his ass looked in his civilian clothes or-

            “Fuck.” Lance grabbed his pillow and pulled it over his face, “Fuck!” he let out a little louder, knowing the sound would be muffled. He flipped the pillow back under his head and looked at the tiny clock on his bedside table. What felt like hours of self-contemplation and discovery had only been a half hour. His entire bisexual awakening had only taken a half hour. He groaned. He had thirty minutes to kill. Thirty minutes to kill with thoughts of Keith’s ass dancing in his head. Lance pursed his lips, got up and locked his door. He could start not thinking about Keith tomorrow.

            Lance tugged off his shirt and unzipped his pants and let them fall to floor, not bothering to fold either of them up. He laid back down and opened the first drawer on his nightstand, taking out a bottle of lotion and a tissue. He felt twinges of both dirtiness and excitement as he shimmied out of his boxers. He was already half-hard, and he had barely even begun. He wrapped his hand around his erection and began to get lost in thought again. He did feel a tug of guilt, like he was managing to cheat on a person he had never even met, but he decided that for today, he would let himself pretend that there was a world where him and Keith could be together. He would pretend that Keith was his soulmate.

            He thought of him; beautiful, sweaty and on top of him. With his eyes screwed shut he pretended it was Keith’s hand tugging at him, making him want to whimper and moan. Of Keith whispering in his ear all of the naughty things he planned to do to him. Of Keith talking dirty to him in Korean. Lance felt himself get close to his climax and his other hand inadvertently went to his soulmark. He hadn’t realized what he had done until he felt shock and excitement pulsate from his hip. Both of his hands shop up quickly, mortified that he had somehow managed to get caught while alone in his room, until he felt his soulmate’s arousal building from his soulmark.

            If Lance hadn’t been laying down already, he would have fallen over. His soulmate must have started pleasuring themselves as well, because Lance could feel their rushes of passion and pleasure on top his own. It was pure ecstasy. He tentatively placed his fingertips back on his soulmark and resumed jerking himself off. Lance couldn’t even focus on a particular fantasy, too overwhelmed with the doubled pleasure.

            He felt himself getting close and didn’t even bother reaching for a tissue. He felt his soulmate finish, and the sensation of their orgasm sent Lance over the edge for his own. He saw bright white as his eyes squeezed shut and he held back a cry and made a small mess on his torso. He started to come down from the high and rubbed loving lazy circles into his soulmark. Love and contentedness spilling from both sides.

            He didn’t know how they had managed to never do this before, but he already couldn’t wait for the next time. Once the two of them had calmed down a little more, he reached for the tissue he had grabbed and wiped off his tummy. He looked over at the clock, “Oh shit!” he was going to be late for dinner. He threw his clothes on and ran out the door towards the kitchen.

✧✧✧

            Keith saw Lance burst into the dining room with a sheepish grin on his face. He had managed to just beat him there by a minute, and he couldn’t be more grateful. He already felt his ears go a little red and had no idea how he was going to make it through the meal. Lance still had a sheen on sweat on his forehead and seemed dazed.

            “Nice of you to join us, Lance.” Hunk said sarcastically, clearly ready to serve his masterpiece.

            “Sorry! I, uh, lost track of time. I was napping.”

            Keith has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself in check. Napping was the complete opposite of what the two of them had just been doing. Lance plopped himself in the empty seat next to Keith and began conversing with Shiro. He knew it was ridiculous, but he wanted Lance to himself. It took all his willpower not to grab his stupid beautiful face and say, ‘I just made you orgasm, pay attention to me.’

            “You okay, man?” Lance asked him suddenly.

            Keith cleared his throat, “What? Yeah I’m fine, why?”

            “You look super out of it and you didn’t make fun of me for being late.”  

            Keith shrugged, “I took a nap before dinner too.”

            Lance’s cheeks turned bright pink. The answer must have satisfied him enough since he turned and resumed his previous conversation with Shiro. Hunk passed out the food to the team and everyone marveled at how delicious it was. Keith locked eyes with Lance for a moment and they smiled. It wasn’t exactly like the two of them having a secret quickie before dinner, but for him was close enough. He looked down to his covered soulmark lovingly, for today he would pretend there was a world where he and Lance could be together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Okay but seriously, I need to give a serious shout out to [ crowquettes](https://twitter.com/crowquettes) for coming up with this idea a while ago. We talked a lot about it and I hope you like itttttt.  
> I will be putting a disclaimer at the top of any chapter with NSFW content. I know that some of you may not want to see it and I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable!  
> I know I typically update Mondays, but I had off today and felt inspired. I haven't even begun responding to comments so I just want to blanket thank everyone for the continued love and support!!
> 
> Also i will only call Keith Impulsive McMullet for now on b y e


	11. Collide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter contains description of sexual content*

            Lance, Keith discovered, was a monster. On the outside, he looked like a fully functional human being, but that was a goddamn lie. Keith was glad that he had managed to avoid this aspect of Lance for so long. If he had discovered it earlier, there would have been no chance of keeping his composure when they were together, something he could barely manage to begin with. It did make sense in retrospect, with how often he flirted with anything that moved, but Keith had discovered, for lack of a better term, the hard way that Lance was obsessed with jerking off.

            Team Voltron had just finished one of their most stressful weeks as a team yet. They liberated Shay and her people from the Galran fleet inhabiting their home and even managed to capture Sendak, but they had nearly died in the process. They had to fight not just the fleet, but also another Robeast sent from Haggar. The only reason they made it out alive was Princess Allura reviving the Balmera with an ancient ritual that nearly killed her in time for it to save them.  It was another close call, and everyone was in desperate need of some rest.

            Or everyone minus Lance, apparently. Keith was exhausted and even he was more than ready to take the next two days off to sleep before getting back into his training routine, praying that they wouldn’t have another fight in the meantime. Lance, had other ideas, and kept him awake for ‘bonding time’ at all hours of the night.  The first night it happened Keith could hardly believe it and was amused more than anything when he felt the twinges of Lance’s arousal spread through his hip. He rationalized that they had a near death experience, and it did make sense to want to release some stress and bond with the person you love. Even if he was exhausted, he was happy to be alive and connect with Lance.

            It was as spectacular as the first time they had soulmark sex, and when they were both finished Keith nestled into his bed and was ready to go into a nice deep sleep. An hour later Lance woke him up again. And then again in the middle of the night. Then _twice_ in the morning. Keith was a teenaged boy, and was no stranger to masturbating, but at this rate, Lance was going to have carpal tunnel in his wrist before they even got to fought Zarkon.        

            Keith finally got a break the day the team decided to interrogate Sendak, a week after saying goodbye to the Balmerans. Allura was finally feeling well enough to yell at Shiro and Coran to stop doting on her. Even in her weakened state, she put the team ahead of herself and told them to start extracting Sendak’s memories. The team gathered around the pod Sendak was in as Coran hooked up the tech. He was exhausted and expected Lance to be the same, but he looked chipper as ever.

            He couldn’t believe it! He had been kept awake all hours of the night for the past week by this ass, and Lance looked like he got eight hours with no interruption. He crossed his arms as Coran finished, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen. He warned the others that the technology wasn’t meant for interrogation, but they all knew it was a necessary evil.

            Pidge jumped around the pod excitedly and asked, “So, how exactly does this work?”

            “As the memories are extracted, they're written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands.”

            “When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship.” Lance said smiling.

            Keith, still flabbergasted replied, “The amount of information in your brain could be stored in a paper airplane.”

            Finally, some semblance of crankiness emerged from the other boy. His eyes narrowed and he leaned toward Keith to yell at him, “Oh yeah? Well the amount of information you have, Keith, could be…”

            “Yeah?!”

            “Uh it’s less than what I have!” Keith was literally in love with him, but he was two seconds away from ejecting Lance into outer space.

            “Oh good one, Lance!” Hunk exclaimed, making Keith bury his face in his hand as Lance grinned to his best friend. Before he could say anything else, the extractor inside the pod turned on, indicating that the process was beginning. Everyone looked confused, wondering if that’s what it was supposed to be doing.

            “Let’s give it some time.” Shiro decided, and the waiting began.

            Keith was many things, patient was not one of them. He leaned against an empty pod and almost began dozing off when Hunk actually fell to the floor and started snoring. Even Lance looked bored as he sat on the ground, and he was great at doing nothing all day. If he didn’t do something soon, he was going to fall asleep.

            “Well, I can’t wait around anymore. I’m going to hit the training deck.” He said, being the first one brave enough to call it quits.

            “Okay, well while Keith does that, I think I’m gonna get my chill on. Maybe kickback with a lemonade or space juice. Something.” Lance stretched lazily and tried to sneak out behind Keith.

            “Oh no you don’t, you’re training too.” Keith said grabbing his collar. If Lance could masturbate at the crack of dawn, he could do some sword training for the rest of the day.

            “What? Why?” He pouted.

            “Because that’s more important than space juice.”

            “Fine” He whined, drawing the word out. He lightly pulled away from Keith’s grasp to turn to Shiro, “Let us know if anything happens.”

            The pair made their way to the training deck in silence, Keith still mildly annoyed half at being so tired and half at the fact that he was unable to scold Lance for making him tired in the first place. He wanted to grab him by the collar, shake him, and yell at him to keep it down to once a night.  

            “You okay, man?” Lance asked him suddenly.

            The question took him off guard, “What? Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

            “You’re broody, and not just normal Keith-level broody either, even more than that.”

            Keith wanted to ask what, exactly, ‘Keith-level broody’ meant, and felt mostly offended but also enamored by the term. “I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.” It technically wasn’t a lie, even if it wasn’t the entire truth Keith felt it was a better response than ‘You kept me awake to have telepathic soulmate sex three times last night.’

            Lance laughed and pushed his shoulder lightly, “Oh, dude, me too! You would not believe the night I had.” The urge to eject Lance into space came back so for his sake, Keith ignored him until they got to the deck.

 

            Lance had come a long way as a student the past few weeks. They had moved on from strictly hand-to-hand and began basic sword fighting skills. Keith had to admit that it was easier on his heart to watch Lance fight a robot than to constantly pin him to the ground. Especially now with their night time routine, he did not need to add fuel to the fire.  

            “You too tired to start at level two today?” He teased, knowing that even if that was the case Lance’s pride would push him to prove him wrong.

            “No way! Start with three even if you want! Start with four!”

            “Easy tiger, even I don’t start with level four. Start with two, then I’ll do level three so you can see what it looks like. It’s a big jump in skill level.”

            Lance nodded, grabbed the sword he used for training, and took his place in the middle of the deck. “Start training level two.” He said, taking his starting stance as a training robot descended from the ceiling.

            The true advantage of watching Lance fight was able to see how beautifully his body moved. Keith noticed it while they fought together, but being able to watch from a distance was a gift. He still had to be an instructor of course, and watch for mistakes but he still found he would get distracted. Lances footing fumbled a bit, “Keep your body lower!” he fumbled again and Keith groaned, about to correct him again.

            “Did we start on level three?” Lance called out, sounding panicked. His movements were less fluid and it looked like he was struggling against something Keith had seen him master.

            “No, is everything oka-” Keith was cut off but the training robot suddenly picking up intensity. Lance brought his blade up to strike, but the robot managed to hit his sword, sending him flying halfway across the deck.

             “End training sequence.” Lance groaned, but the robot still encroached on him and showed no sign of slowing down.

            Keith grabbed his bayard and felt panic creep up his throat. Something was wrong. “End training sequence!” He tried. When nothing happened he sprinted out to the deck to protect Lance. The robot was just about to hit Lance in the shoulder, when Keith brought his blade up to block the hit. “End training sequence now!” He tried one last time, still not sure what to do. The two of them made eye contact, “Lance, run!”

            Lance’s eyes widened, “No I won’t leave you along with-”

            “Run!” Keith cut him off. He couldn’t handle Lance getting hurt. Before he could say anything else the robot was approaching again. Keith shot up and dared one final look at Lance, and begged with his eyes for him to leave and stay safe. Lance must have gotten the message because he ran out of the deck.

            Keith focused his attention back on the robot. He went to strike, but the robot kicked Keith’s hand so his bayard went flying. He watched, dismally, as his last chance of survival landed beyond his reach. He sprinted toward it, sliding on his knees past the robot as it tried to hit him again. He managed to pick it up, adrenaline pulsing through his veins. He bolted for the exit, hitting the button to close the automated doors as soon as he got out.

            Sweat pouring from his face, he leaned against the wall and panted, his eyes screwed shut. He reached for his soulmark and sent a concoction of relief and love. His relief was short lived, however, as the robots sword protruded from the crack in the sliding doors.

✧✧✧

            Lance sprinted down the hallway, looking for anybody that could come help him and Keith. His arms were tight around his body, still freaked out by what had just happened. He stopped as he realized the lights at the end of the hall were turning off one by one, and the same feeling of dread from the training deck came back. He broke out into a cold sweat and muttered to himself that everything was okay. The very last light at the end of the hall began to flicker and he saw a figure in the distance.

            “Coran is that you?” he managed to shake out.

            “Help! I'm trapped in the airlock!” Coran’s voice called out. Lance began sprinting toward the airlock to let him out. The whole castle was turning against them! He had to save Coran and then warn the others, they had to save Keith! He got to the airlock and clicked the button to go inside. He entered, but Coran was nowhere to be found. The door shut behind him and his heart stopped.

            “Airlock opening in thirty ticks” the computer called out.

            Lance felt his heart thud in his chest, heavy and afraid, it had to be a joke. “Okay, you guys got me, nice!” But the computer continued to count down, “Okay! Joke’s over you got me! Guys?” He pounded on the airlock doors, realizing that he was about to die in less than thirty seconds “Help!” He continued to pound on the door, but he knew no one was around. His hands slipped down the glass, and tears started to prick the corner of his eyes.

            He felt his soulmark tingle and suddenly felt love and relief flow through him from his soulmark, which made him cry harder. It wasn’t fair, he was going to die alone, never having met his soulmate. After saving countless people, he was going to die never meeting the love of his life.

            Just as the computer was reaching its final countdown, Lance saw Keith round the corner, still fighting the training robot. He banged his fists against the glass to get his attention, “Keith!” He called out. He had never been happier to see that stupid beautiful mullet.

            “What are you doing in there?!” Keith screamed, still using his sword to block attacks from the robot.

            “I need help! Because if you don't get me out of here right now, I'm going to be sucked out into space!”

            The computer reached the end of the countdown and called out, “Doors opening.”

            “I’m getting sucked out into space!” Lance started to scream and gripped his soulmark, he sent love and regret and every emotion in-between. At least he wasn’t going to die alone.

            Keith grunted, a new wave of determination evident on his face. He evaded the robot long enough to use his sword to open the door. The robot went flying out the doors into space, and Lance felt his body being pulled with unimaginable force. Keith, gripping onto the doorframe for dear life, reached his hand out for Lance to grab. “Lance, come on!”

            With every ounce of strength that he had, he grabbed Keith’s hand and felt himself being hoisted to safety. As soon as he was close enough, Keith grabbed him by the middle and closed the door. Lance roped his arms around Keith and squeezed as hard as he could as they both panted.

            “What the hell were you doing in there?!” Keith yelled.

             Lance hadn’t realized it but he had started sobbing into Keith’s chest. “I thought Coran was in there and he was going to die and you were going to die from the robot and I thought I was going to die and-”

            Before he could finish his sentence, Keith’s lips crashed to his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ 
> 
> Edit: cemo wins the prize for being the first to pick up the Steven Universe reference <3 
> 
> I love all of you so much and your words of encouragement have brought me to tears!! Sorry for not updating last Monday, I have crazy Adult Things happening, but this chapter is extra long to make up for it!!!!  
> I've yet to receive even one bad comment or reaction and I'm so lucky to have such kind readers, you are all the best.  
> As always, come say hi to me on tumblr, tag me in any fanart or head-cannons or anything fun because it brings me joy :) 
> 
> Next chapter is gonna be A Doozy so prepare your baby hearts.


	12. Drift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains graphic depiction of smooches!!!!

            The universe was composed of Keith’s lips and nothing else. The castle, Voltron, the stars themselves; all of them were gone and replaced with the euphoria of Keith’s chapped yet somehow soft lips pressing into his own. His heart, moments before ready to beat out of chest in fear, was now beating slow and happy.

            Still being supported by his chest, Lance slipped his hands into Keith’s hair to bring him closer. It was softer than anything he could have imagined, and his slight tugging made Keith moan, a noise that would haunt Lance until the day he died. He felt the arms around his waist tighten possessively. With Keith’s strength it should have been uncomfortable, but Lance only felt safe and found himself wishing to be held even tighter.

            Keith’s tongue pressed against Lance’s bottom lip, coaxing him open his mouth slightly. Keith’s tongue pressed inside and found Lance’s, deepening the kiss. Lance had never kissed anyone before, but he was positive that even if he had, it wouldn’t have been like this; it wouldn’t have been this perfect. It wouldn’t have been as passionate with anyone else but his spitfire teammate.

            Keith bit down on Lance’s bottom lip, and he unintentionally let out a moan in response. Nothing had ever felt so good in his life, and he had never been more turned on. Keith’s hands dug into his skin where he was holding Lance so deep it would probably bruise. Lance didn’t care. He didn’t care if Keith marked up his entire body as long as he got to continue kissing

            _‘But you should.’_

            The thought was a scourge that brought the rest of the cold world back to reality. This was wrong. Lance was saving his first kiss for his soulmate. He should have only kissed the person he was going to spend his life with, that was how the world worked. How was he going to look his other half in the eye and tell them that he had the world’s greatest first kiss with his teammate, someone he had hated not too shortly before hand? Lance had felt enough guilt for the thought he had been having, let along acting out on those thoughts.

            Lance’s hands dropped and he lightly pushed against Keith’s chest, breaking the kiss. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at how beautiful flushed-Keith looked. His cheeks were tinged with color, his lips reddened and puffy, and his eyes, heavy with lust and something Lance couldn’t think about. “What’s wrong?” Keith asked him softly.

            He felt his own chest tighten as he said, “Keith we can’t.”

            Keith’s eyes widened, dropping any trace of desire from his face. “Lance,” he tried to begin but Lance cut him off.

            “I know that our situation kinda suck right now, with…” He gestured to castle, “all of this, but…” He looked down, not able to look Keith in the eye, ashamed of himself.

            “Lance we-!”

            “Keith, no! We can’t. _I_ can’t. I have a soulmate and,” He was starting to get hysterical.

            “I know Lance I’m-!” Keith raised his voice and grabbed Lance’s shoulders.

            Lance shook his head, and pushed Keith off of him. He couldn’t listen to Keith try to rationalize what they had just done, it was too tempting; Keith was too tempting. He had to stay strong. After what he had done, he owed that to his soulmate at least. He had to cut this off before it became something bigger than he could control. “I can’t Keith, not with you. Never with you.”

            Keith’s eyes took on a dark resignation. The vulnerability he had exposed with their kiss was instantly gone and replaced with cold malice. His body was rigid as he got off the floor, not offering his hand to help Lance up; a gesture he had grown accustomed to. Lance already ached to take it all back and resume making out and pretend that soulmarks didn’t exist. “Keith?” he tried. It came out more fragile than he had intended.

            “Let’s go. We need to find the others.”

 

 

            Lance didn’t go to training the following morning, or the morning after that, or the morning after that. He couldn’t bring himself to be alone with Keith. They had managed working together to prevent Allura from flying the castle into an imploding star, but hadn’t had any contact once the panic settled. It was the first time in Lance’s life that he didn’t look forward to soulmate touches. Instead of being his source of joy, he now got a fresh wave of guilt for somehow cheating on someone he never even met.  

            Try as he might, he couldn’t shake the kiss. It had felt right, too right, for Lance to trust himself to be alone with Keith. He had lain in his bed restless for three nights, cycling between desire and guilt until he finally passed out from exhaustion. He felt like he was going to go crazy. One part of him, the rational and moral part, was telling him that the kiss was wrong and that whatever was happening between he and Keith had to be nipped in bud before things spiraled past the point of no return. The other part, which Lance could only assume was the horny and love-starved part, was telling him that what happened in space stayed in space. That it could be years until he meets his soulmate, and that’s if he lives long enough to even get home someday.

            He had successfully avoided Keith for three full days at this point, but that had involved skipping ‘family dinner’ to lie in his room, and his stomach was aching for food. He put his hands on his tummy and tried to shush the noises, but the loud gurgling continued. Turning to the side to look at his clock, he figured it was late enough that everyone else would be asleep, and he could brave the trip to the kitchen for some delicious space goo.

            He tiptoed as silently as he could from his room to the kitchen, which was pretty damn silent with all his added experience in sneaking around from being a student at the Garrison. He only lingered longer than he should have passing Keith’s room, wondering what would happen if he knocked on his door. He pushed the thought away as quickly as it had arrived and finally got to the kitchen. He thought for sure he was in the clear until a chipper, “Hey, Lance!” scared the ever living shit out of him, and made him scream.

            “Hunk! What the hell!” Lance cried out.

            Hunk laughed, “Sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you, just getting a midnight snack.” At the word snack, Lance’s stomach growled loudly, “While you get some midnight dinner I presume?” Lance nodded and Hunk handed him the full bowl he was holding. “Where have you been the last few days, I barely saw you.”

            Lance looked down at the food and back up at Hunk, “It’s complicated.”

            “Does it have anything to do with why Keith has a stick up his butt?” With that Lance glared and started shoveling the goo into his mouth. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Hunk shook his head and got himself another bowl.

            “Who does he think he is?!” Lance asked, his mouth full of food. “If anyone should be angry it should be me! _He’s_ the one that kissed me while-”

            “Whoa! What. When did that-” Hunk tried to stop Lance, but he was a leaking dam that just exploded.

            “I’m the one with a living soulmate and he just kisses the hell out of me! He did save my life and I was about to be sucked into space, and yeah, okay I was caught up in the moment and I kissed him back but he started it and now’s _he’s_ mad at _me_! I!” Lance threw his arms over his head sending the nearly empty bowl flying, and let out a frustrated scream before crossing them back over his chest. “Can you believe him?”

            Hunk had his fingers steepled in front of his mouth and took a deep breath, “So. You and Keith kissed.”

            “Yes, Hunk. I just said that.”

            “You,” He gestured his still connected fingers to Lance, “And Keith?” His fingers moved to the direction of where their bedrooms were located, “Keith who you hated for years. Keith who you fight with on an hourly basis.” He paused again, “Keith Kogane. And you?”

            Lance rolled his eyes and shifted uncomfortably, “Yes!”

            Hunk paused again, “Are you sure?”

            “Is it that hard to believe?” Lance asked exasperated.

            “Absolutely.” Hunk replied with zero hesitation. “But,” he added, “It does explain a lot. You two have been closer lately except for the past couple days where he’s been a mess and you’ve been MIA.”

            Lance’s shoulders slumped, “I really like Keith but…he’s not my soulmate.”

            “So?”

            “So?” Lance asked sarcastically, “So I probably shouldn’t be hooking up with anyone except the one that destiny handpicked for me, Hunk!”

            Hunk sat on the floor and gestured for Lance to sit beside him. Lance did so and rested his head on his best friend’s shoulder. “Did I ever tell you about my brother’s friend Hokulani?” Lance shook his head, “Well, she had a soulmark with the name of a local guy from my town and they hated each other. And I’m not talking about the weird hate-flirting that you and Keith do.”

            “Hey, watch it.” Lance said jokingly, letting a smile spread to his face.

            “Anyway, they hated each other, and they tried to make things work and took breaks before trying to date for years until she finally called it quits. She fell in love with her best friend instead, who didn’t even have a soulmark and they are the happiest couple I know.”

            “What are you getting at, Hunk?”

            “I’m saying that sometimes the universe gets it wrong! And don’t let the right person walk away. Would Hokulani and her soulmate eventually be happy together someday? Maybe. But why would you wait around for a maybe when you’ve got a definitely?”

            Lance pursed his lips together and let a few tears fall down his face, “Hunk, you big gassy genius.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My boyfriend read this for me and actually screamed "JACKIE JUST LET THEM BE HAPPY" and then demanded that the next ten chapters be exclusively blowjobs. 
> 
> Babies I worked an 11 hour shift today and I am giving this to you after a glass of wine ok? be kind with spelling/grammar errors i love u thank u.  
> The amount of kudos, comments, and messages astounds me every single day and you are all so sweet to me. I feel so lucky, so thank you thank you for being the supportive lovely people you are!! 
> 
> ALSO do u like my icon I made it all on my own which is why it's terrible but I love it.


	13. Midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter contains reference to past torture*

            “Shiro, you need to go to sleep.”

             Allura’s voice was soft as her eyes fluttered closed, right on the brink of falling asleep. Shiro was under the covers facing her, one hand slowly running through her hair, the other under her waist. Since the corruption and subsequent deletion of Alfor’s artificial intelligence, Shiro hadn’t left her side. He wanted to make sure she was eating and sleeping, and he didn’t care is that meant sacrificing eating and sleeping himself. The first night she had cried in his arms for hours. She put on a strong show for the others, but in front of Shiro she showed her true devastation. It was bad enough that she had essentially lost her father all over again, but she had also put everyone she cared about in danger.

            “You sleep, I’m okay.”

            “It’s been three days! Have you slept at all?” Her eyes popped open and her expression grew stern, all traces of sleepiness gone, “And don’t try to tell me humans don’t need as much sleep as Alteans! I’ve seen the hour Lance wakes up when we don’t have missions!”  

            Shiro chuckled and pulled her closer to him, so that her face was nestled into his neck, “Stop worrying about me.” He would sleep, he just wanted to make sure she fell asleep first. Regardless, he wasn’t anywhere near his breaking point for days without sleep. He had gone much longer than that during his time as The Champion.

            Apart from fighting, the Galrans had experimented on each of the gladiators from the arena to test their biological limits. Their people grew tired of watching the standard fights, and the Galrans needed a way to up the ante to keep their people sedated. Shiro was forced to go without sleep, food, and water on a regular basis, and then fight gladiators at their peak, even when he could barely stand. He had seen so many people die from the experimentation, inside and outside the arena. Staying awake for another hour to hold Allura until she fell asleep was nothing.

            “I do worry about you.” Allura muffled into him. Her hands wrapped around his middle and she squeezed lightly, pausing before asking, “Can you stay with me until morning?”

            Shiro sighed, it hadn’t been the first time she had asked and he was running out of excuses. “I promise I’ll stay until you’re sleeping, but I’m still not sure if it’s the best idea for me to sleep in your room…”

            “Are you worried about what the others would say? Because I swear, Shiro, I would-”

            “It’s not that.” He cut her off and kissed her forehead, “Just…give me time.”

            Her tone made it evident that she would take no prisoners if anyone had anything to say about them being together, but that wasn’t what gave Shiro pause. Nightmares had plagued him every night since he escaped. They varied from intense detail to fleeting imagery, but the contents of the nightmares didn’t matter, every night he would wake up screaming. Even the nights he couldn’t remember anything about the dreams, he would still lie awake for hours, fresh agony spiraling through him until he passed out from exhaustion. Some nights the dreams were so real, he woke up thinking he was still a prisoner, and that escaping had been the dream and he was about to endure all of that pain again until he died millions of miles away from his family.

            Those nights he would look at his arm and have to stop himself from ripping the metal appendage off. He was unworthy of being the Black Paladin with most of his strength coming from the very race of beings they were trying to stop. An unworthy leader and an unworthy lover. He was broken, and he had to make sure the others never knew. He had to be strong for them; he had to be strong for her.

            She nodded slowly, nestling herself into him further, “Promise me you will sleep tonight. It will help me sleep more soundly.”

            “I promise.” He kissed her forehead again. She trusted him, even when he didn’t deserve it. He could tell her about the nightmares and his flashbacks, she would understand! She would hold him and talk him through any of his attacks. Logically he knew, but he still couldn’t lower the last wall.

            Allura’s breathing became slow and rhythmic as she fell asleep. She was beautiful, and Shiro could watch her sleep for hours. Watching the way that her fearless face became vulnerable, the way her hair would fall over her face, the littlest snore that made her nose wrinkle: all small privileges reserved only for him.  

            Shiro could sleep tomorrow.

✧✧✧

            Hunk walked through the sliding doors to Pidge’s workspace and let out a massive groan. He had just finished up with Lance and needed someone to talk to. He loved Lance, but as soon as he was done talking about his guilt, he went right into details of the kiss. He learned a lot about Keith’s kissing technique, information he could have gone his whole life without knowing. He needed someone to talk to about Lance’s predicament and knew that everyone but Pidge would be sound asleep by now.

             Pidge, who was typing a mile a minute at their computer, didn’t even bother looking before asking, “What’s up, Hunk?”

            Hunk pulled out the chair next to Pidge’s and straddled it. He folded his arms across the back to rest his aching head and got ready to drop The Drama Bomb. “I just ran into Lance in the kitchen and… ” He didn’t even know where to begin, “There are some crazy things happening on this ship.”

            Pidge suddenly stopped typing, the statement grabbing their attention more than the tinkering, and scooted their chair closer to Hunk, “What kind of crazy?” they asked slowly.

            Hunk turned his head slightly so that he could look at Pidge, “What I’m about to tell you may blow your little mind.” He paused for dramatic effect, “Lance and _Keith…_ kissed.”

            Pidge’s eyes popped and a grin spread across their face, “Oh my god did Lance actually figure it out?” they screamed excitedly, grabbing ahold of Hunk’s shoulders, “I can’t believe it! Finally!” Pidge was shaking Hunk, and it wasn’t the exact reaction he had been expecting.

            He expected Pidge to freak out and question it like he did, not jump for joy. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, figure out what? And why do you look so excited?”

            “Well they kissed because they're soulmates, right? Lance finally put it together and they had their stupid soulmate discovery moment and now we have to deal with them being gross and happy all the time! Right?” Hunk said nothing and Pidge’s excitement dropped slightly. “Right?” they asked again. The excitement dropped completely and was replaced with worry, “Hunk tell me I’m right!”

            Hunk blinked slowly at Pidge before returning his head to its original position in his arms and let out another long groan. “I fucked up.”

            Hunk remained silent for a few more moments, the irony of his speech to Lance settling in. “I fucked up.” He said again.

            “What happened?!” Pidge screamed. They were standing now, trying desperately to pull Hunk’s head up from his arms.

            “I just had to console Lance for an hour because he kissed someone who is not his soulmate. He put his little head on my shoulder, right here, and I told him to allow himself to like Keith even though they are not soulmates. And you are telling me. That they _are_ soulmates.”

            “Oh.” Pidge sat back down, “Well that’s not good.”

            Hunk shot up from his chair, “Wait, hold on. How do you know that they’re soulmates?”

            Pidge took a deep breath, “That’s…a complicated story.”

            “After tonight, I think I can handle it.”

            Pidge looked to the side, “My name isn’t actually Pidge Gunderson…it’s Katie Holt. Matt Holt is my brother.”

            Realization hit Hunk like a ton of bricks, “So that’s why you followed Keith that day. You knew he was lying.”

            “Exactly, and that was when he told me that Lance is his soulmate and he’s been too afraid to say anything because he thinks that Lance hates him, which honestly I thought so too, but now they’ve kissed and Lance still doesn’t know.”

            “Yeah and I just told Lance to ignore his soulmark to be with Keith.”

            “Who actually is his soulmate.”

            “Well shit.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello babies!! Thank you so much for all of your comments, kudos, and tumblr messages!! Even though I don't respond to everything I read them all and it makes me so happy! I am so thankful to have such a supportive and kind fan base!  
> Also my boyfriend was very happy to hear that nearly all of you agree with #tenchaptersofbjs and ilu guys but we are on the pain train!!!! 
> 
> Keep sending me head cannons and excerpts and ideas and art- I love all of it!!  
> Everyone stay safe and happy <3
> 
> EDIT: I just fixed up some typos but apparently my editing skills are in the pooper today- so let me know if you find any please!


	14. Oh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This chapter contains guns, mention of blood, and bleeding**

_Never with you. I can’t Keith, not with you. Never with you. Never._

            Lance’s words haunted Keith’s mind, following him like somebody else’s shadow. Sometime he would get lucky, and the words would only trail behind him; a lingering feeling without the memory repeating again and again. Most of the time they were cast right in front, where he could not ignore them. No matter where he went or what he was doing, he would hear his soulmate rejecting him, see the regret laced on Lance’s face. The words would play in surround sound, the very words he had feared from day one;

             ‘ _Not with you.’_

            He had been so fucking stupid, and impulsive, which he honestly couldn’t even be surprised by anymore. Seeing Lance, _his_ Lance, about to die in the most horrific way imaginable, screaming out for him to save him, had been too much. Adrenaline had taken over his body, and he didn’t care what he had to do to save him, even if he got sucked out into space in the process.

            Once he was finally safe in his arms, Keith couldn’t help it. The adrenaline was still making his heart thump in his chest, and Lance was holding on to him as tightly as a child holds onto a balloon in fear of it flying away. He had been so relieved. There had been too many times their Voltron battles had gotten close, but even that would have been better in a way. Even in their worst battles, Lance was proud; he was a Paladin. Trapped in the airlock he was just a scared twenty year old. Not that Keith ever wanted to lose him, but seeing him getting launched into the endless abyss of space would have broken him completely. But he had saved him! He wasn’t floating through the cosmos, he was safe in his arms and for a second soulmarks and secrets didn’t exist.   

            So he fucking kissed him.

            He grabbed the idiots face and had the greatest kiss of his goddam life. As much as Lance’s words had haunted him, the kiss had haunted him in a different way entirely. Keith had kissed other boys before. He wasn’t one of those ‘wait for your soulmate to be your first everything’ people. There were people who didn’t meet their soulmates until they were forty, and he had no intention of waiting that long. But all of the past kisses combined did not even come close to how one kiss with Lance felt.

            He felt his soul vibrate when the two of them had connected; relived to finally be with its other half. He had honestly expected Lance to shove him away, but when he melted into it, Keith let himself feel something dangerous; hope. Every scenario he played out in his mind involved Lance shoving him away, or at the very least declining him nicely. Never once did he think that Lance would kiss him back. Keith could tell he was inexperienced, but his passion more than made up for it. The little spiral of hope unfurled the longer they kissed. ‘ _Maybe_ ’ he had thought, _maybe everything will be okay_.’

            _‘Never with you.’_

            “Keith?”

            He had been such an idiot.

            “Keith!”

            How could he let himself believe for even a second that Lance would ever lo-

            “Keith!!” Shiro was gripping onto his shoulder, his voice violently ripping him out of his pensiveness.

            “Sorry!” He shook his head, he really should have been focusing. It was the first time the entire team had gathered since Alfor’s AI had almost killed them. It was also the first time he had seen Lance. He was standing beside Hunk, very obviously trying not to look at him while Shiro spoke. Everyone waited a tick for Lance to make a jab at Keith, but it never came.

            Shiro nodded, Keith already forgiven for not listening, “As I was saying, Allura and I have decided that we all need a break. We’ve been fighting non-stop and it’s starting to get to everyone. So instead of fighting for the next few days, we’ll be doing diplomacy meetings during the day with the friendly planets that Zarkon hasn’t taken control of yet.”

            Lance inhaled excitedly, “And at night?!” He and Hunk were grinning, already planning their debauchery, Keith was sure.

            Shiro smiled, “And at night you’ll be able to go out, have fun. But-!” He turned his attention to Hunk and Lance who had begun cheering and fist pumping, “You are representing Team Voltron. Be respectful and be ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.” He gestured for Pidge to stand up and join him at the front.

            They dug into a small bag they were holding and pulled out four tiny earpieces. “I’ve been working on these for a while and I think they’re finally ready! I took the technology from our helmets used that basis to create a _wireless_ communication system! It uses radio waves so that over a short range-”

            “Pidge in English.” Lance deadpanned.

            Pidge rolled their eyes, “Fancy walkie-talkies.”

            “Oh sweet!” Lance reached out for the blue one and put it on his ear, everyone else following suit. “Can you hear me?!” He screamed, making everyone in the room flinch.

            “Just talk normally! There is only one button, and that’s how you turn it on and off. All of ours are connected so everyone will be able to hear everyone so no flirting over this thing, go it you two?”

            Keith panicked for a second before realizing that Pidge was speaking to Shiro and Allura. Shiro had a slight blush on his face but Allura was smiling proudly. “If we all have our lion colors, what color do you have, Allura?” He asked her.

            Allura pulled her hair back and angled her head slightly to show off her multi-colored device, “All of them.” She smiled warmly, “Pidge asked me if I wanted purple, yet this seemed like the right choice.”  She released her hair and Keith saw Shiro’s eyes soften.

            Everyone had known that the two of them had been falling head over heels for each other but he wondered how long the two of them had been open about it. He had been so wrapped up in his own drama, he hadn’t noticed a change in the two of them until right now.

            He was jealous. He hated himself for it, but it was deep and raging. Shiro didn’t even have a soulmate and yet was able to find someone to love him. It wasn’t fair. He glanced over to Lance again who was still fiddling with the communicator with Hunk. He looked happy; he looked beautiful.

            _‘Not with you.’_

            Shiro turned off the signal for the communication device and addressed the team, “Alright guys! Our first diplomatic mission is going to be on the planet Vabrorix. The atmosphere is hospitable, but their temperature range is much higher than what we’re used to. Since we’re expected, we’ll go down in civilian clothing but you’ll probably want to dress lightly. Our meeting will be with the main city’s president, but will be broadcasted to the entire planet. Be ready for departure in five minutes.”

✧✧✧

            Lance hated politics. When he agreed to be a Voltron Paladin he knew it would involve kicking major alien ass, he did not know it would include three hours of sitting still as Shiro and Allura answered questions about said ass kicking. The president seemed to be happy to have them, but all of his questions had an undertone of mistrust and Lance didn’t like it.

            Allura must have picked up on it as well since her stance became more and more rigid as the meeting went on. He also saw Shiro’s hand twitching, an indication of his annoyance as well. He looked to the other Paladins who for the most part have been quiet. Hunk and Pidge seemed fixated on their camera technology and Keith.

            He didn’t have to look at Keith.

            In the end, the meeting was a success, and the president promised to be an ally to Voltron, something they were in no position to deny or question. The crowd roared as the president bowed his horned head, taking Allura’s hand in his claws as a gesture of peace. They left the government hall as a team and the heat hit Lance making him groan.

            He and Hunk were used to the heat, and even they were having a rough time with it. He could only imagine how the others were holding up. Pidge was hoisted up on Hunk’s back and looked ready to pass out. Shiro had sweat across his brow, but didn’t remotely show his discomfort. Keith had left his jacket on the ship, and still looked uncomfortable, even though at first he intended on bringing it with him. Lance slipped his shirt off and used the soft material to wipe down his face. Shiro had maybe downplayed how hot this planet would be.

            As soon as they were a safe distance away Allura let out a frustrated groan, “I did not appreciate that lizard-man’s tone with us.” Everyone nodded in agreement and Shiro slipped his hand into hers, “I apologize that the meeting took longer than I anticipated. Now you’re free for the night! The city has a wonderful night life and you all deserve to have a night of fun.”

            Pidge groaned, “No way, I’m going back to the castle with sweet, sweet temperature regulation.” They tapped on Hunk’s shoulder and slid off his back to the ground.

            Lance looked at Shiro and Allura and waggled his eyebrows, “And you two?”

            Even Allura blushed this time and looked down coyly, “Shiro and I have our own business to attend to. The three of you should go!”

            Hunk threw his arms around Keith and Lance, “Alright! Boys Night Out! It’ll be just like the nights we snuk out of the Garrison.” Both Shiro and Allura gave him a stern look, Hunk laughed uncomfortably, “With much more responsibility of course!” He lowered his voice so that only Keith and Lance could hear him, “Let’s go right now before they say no.”

            The groups parted ways and the trio walked toward the heart of the city, ready for a night to themselves. Lance tugged his shirt back over his head, the setting suns finally cooling the air. The walk was silent and had an air of awkwardness to it, Lance not ready to have a conversation with Keith. He was still hung up on their last activity that had involved mouths, and the way he had royally messed that up.  

            He had tried to talk to Keith after he had his pep-talk from Hunk, but every time he tried Keith would storm off before he could even get a “hello” in. He knew that he messed up, and honestly he wasn’t even sure if he was ready to give up his soulmate for Keith, but they did have to talk at some point.

            “Okay, so. I know that the two of you kissed and that you haven’t been talking much sinc-”

            “You told him?!” Keith bellowed, stopping to grab Lance.

            “He speaks!” Lance cried out with sarcastic joy, “I was beginning to think you’d never talk to me again!”

            Keith was fuming, he stepped into Lance’s personal space and continued to yell, “Well now I’m never going to! I can’t believe you told Hunk!”

            “I needed condolence!”

            “ _You needed condolence!?_ ” Keith raised his arm, looking like he was about to smack Lance across the face, but Hunk grabbed him in time and held him back.

            “Be quiet!” He screamed above the fighting pair, “I was going to say, I know you kissed so don’t let tonight be awkward! We never get a night off so leave the drama in the castle and let’s enjoy ourselves. You can resume not talking to each other tomorrow, okay?”

            Keith seemed to calm down and Lance nodded. Hunk did have a point. Lance held out his hand to Keith, “Truce for now?”

            Keith took a moment but did grab Lance’s hand, “Truce for now.” On contact Lance felt his skin warm and something inside him ached to keep touching, to pull Keith into a kiss and hold onto him. To feel the way he did during their kiss again.

            Lance’s eyes widened coming back to reality and dropped Keith’s hand like it was on fire, “Let’s go clubbing!” Keith and Hunk smiled at him and let out a small cheer as they resumed their walk to the city.

            By the time they reached the main city center, the streets were flooded with people. Music blasted out from different clubs, restaurants placed tables outside for people to eat and drink, and the streets were lined with vendors. The three of them were immediately drawn to the smell of something other than green goo and thoughts of the club were behind them.

            Lance went to make eye contact with someone nearby to ask them where they should eat, but every person either kept their glance down or glared. “Uh guys…?” He turned to ask the other two if they had noticed anything strange but they were already at a food cart.

            Lance jogged over to them and almost fainted at the beautiful sight and smell of the meat kababs the cart was loaded with, “Oh I’ll take a million.” He sighed dreamily. The vendor let out a grunt and slammed the front of the cart down. Looking Lance in the eye, he spit on the street next to his feet, “Yo! What the quiznak, man?!”  The vendor lifted his cart and wheeled it away, settling far away from the three. Lance looked at Keith and Hunk with wide eyes, “What the shit was that about?”

            Keith’s mouth formed a tight line, “I don’t like what’s going on here…everyone seems hostile.”

            Hunk let out a whine, “Why did we think we could go out and have a nice time? Really, we should be smarter than that.” He looked back to the kebab cart and his eyes watered, “We were so close.”

            “Maybe we should just go back before anything really bad happens.” Keith said slowly.            Lance noticed more people gathering around them, none of them looking particularly friendly, “Yeah, let’s head out of here.”

            He felt like something had been wrong during the interview and this had confirmed it. He didn’t know what exactly, but these people did not like them and the sooner they left the better. The three of them began walking toward the main path back to the castle. Just as they reached the city limits, they heard a man call out of them.

            “You’re part of the Voltron team, yeah?”

            The trio turned around a saw a group of Vabrorixians twice their size. Lance felt dread pool in his stomach, there was no way this was going to end well. Hunk raised his hands and said, “Yes, and I don’t know what we did to piss you off, but we’re leaving.”

            The largest one, who Lance presumed to be the leader laughed, “The President may want an alliance with you, but we’ve heard of the devastation that comes to planets where Voltron lingers. Leave here and never return!”

            Hunk and Lance nodded vigorously but Keith stood his ground, “Do you think Zarkon will be any better? Good luck trying to stop him if he comes here without our help!”

            “Silence, _blendingur._ ” The leader hissed out, his split tongue spearing out. “I rather pledge my allegiance to Zarkon than a group of insolent human children!” With that he pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them. “You leave now, and you don’t come back.” Even Keith went silent, all of them having left their weapons in the castle. The three nodded and backed away slowly. They were only about a thirty minute walk from the castle, they could be off the planet within the hour. “Oh and boy?” The turned around, “This will teach you to respect your elders.”

            A shot was heard through the air and suddenly Hunk was on the ground clutching his leg, blood spilling through his fingers. Before any of them could process what happened, the Vabrorixians had turned around to leave and Lance felt like he was about to throw up. Hunk was taking shallow quick breaths and biting his lip tightly.

            Before his brain caught up with his body, Lance took his shirt off to tie it around Hunk’s thigh. “Okay, buddy you’re gonna be okay, we just have to stop the bleeding before Shiro gets here. Then straight into a healing pod and you’ll be good as new” He tried to keep his voice as soothing as possible as he attempted to tie to the knot but there wasn’t enough material to wrap around and tie. “Fuck. Keith give me your shirt and call Shiro to bring the Black Lion.”

            Keith froze and stared at Lance, he pressed his finger to the communicator, “Shiro, Hunk is down, bring Black to the city limits for an emergency extraction immediately.” Even though Lance’s communicator was off, he could hear how loud Pidge was screaming from Keith’s. He waited for Keith to hand him his shirt but he was still frozen.

            “Keith! Give me your shirt now, man!”

            “Shiro will be here soon!”

            Hunk moaned again in agony. Lance’s hands were pressed into his skin now as well, but it still wasn’t enough and blood was still gushing, “Are you fucking crazy?! Hunk is about to bleed out! Give me your shirt!” Keith turned pale, took off his shirt and handed it to Lance.         

            “See was that so- Oh.”

             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /Throws this at y'all and hides/ 
> 
> This is so long. It's so much longer than I planned, but that works out because I have work next Monday so I may not be able to post a chapter!! 
> 
> All of u yelling about Keith taking his shirt off to show him the soulmark I was like "O my god just u wait." u were right ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
> 
> I LOVE U GUYS SO MUCH I live for all the fan art and comments so much you're all amazing I'm so lucky <3


	15. Stay Alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Chapter contains explicit depiction of blood and instance of interpersonal violence**

            The door to Allura’s room slid shut and Shiro felt himself being pushed against the cool metal. Allura smirked at him before pressing her lips against his and Shiro felt his knees go weak. His hands wrapped around her waist as she kept her hands at his chest. Shiro was not used to someone else taking control, and he was becoming a big fan of it. Allura kept him pinned to the door and started kissing the spot beneath his left ear.

            “I hated that lizard man.” She said between kisses.

            Shiro laughed softly, “I know,” His hand reached out to tilt her chin up to meet her gaze, “but Pidge is doing some crazy tech-tinkering in their cockpit, and the other three are out all night so we,” he pulled her close again to kiss her, “actually have time to ourselves.”

            Allura sighed contentedly and nodded, “It almost seems too good to be true!”

            Shiro nodded in agreement and reached behind her to unzip the back of her dress, trailing small kisses on her neck. Before he could slide the garment off her shoulders, both of their communicators went off, “Shiro, Hunk is down, bring Black to the city limits for an emergency extraction immediately.”

✧✧✧

 

            The world stopped. Everything that had been so loud suddenly turned into white noise and static, and Lance and could only hear his heartbeat. He saw it. The most beautiful color; his favorite. The very shade that had captivated his heart long before becoming a Paladin. The color of a clear summer sky. The color of freedom, of the ocean where he learned to swim and collect shells. The color of his mother’s eyes that shined whenever she saw him. The color that had meant everything to him and had somehow become more the day he met his lion. Right on his hip, with five small claw marks atop the singular paw. The perfect complement to his own.

            Keith was his soulmate.

            Hunk was dying and Keith was his soulmate.

            Hunk was dying!

            Reality snapped back into focus. Hunk’s quiet moans of agony were back in his ear, the stale smell of the dirt from the new planet assaulted his nostrils, and the chilled desert air made his sweat-covered skin tingle. Keith was staring at him, waiting.  His eyes were wide and his whole body beat red. Even though it had felt like hours of processing, it had only taken a few moments for everything to fall into place in his mind. Lance knew, and Lance knew that Keith knew that he knew.

            “Lance-” Keith finally spoke, more delicate than he had ever heard before.

            Lance shook his head: Hunk dying took over Keith being his soulmate. “Not now.” he said. His hands were still compressing Hunk’s wound. Keith looked as if he were going to say something else, but after a moment nodded in understanding. He kneeled next to Lance and pressed his hands into Hunk’s leg as well, their hands touching.

            Lance felt a sweet hum course through his body the moment that their skin connected. Touching Keith had always felt like home. Every accidental brush and touch between the two of them had always made Lance get a surge of happiness that had inevitably lead him to feeling guilty about his feelings for Keith. Guilt for having feelings for someone other than his soulmate. Guilt for feeling such a deep connection with someone other than his other half.

            At least now he understood why.

            They locked eyes, and again Keith looked like he was bursting to say something. Lance quickly looked down to Hunk instead, adjusting his hands so that they were touching less. Helping Hunk was a tangible goal, it was easier than looking at Keith, at his soulmate.

            “Hang in there, Buddy. Shiro is on his way and we’ll get you to a healing pod in no time.”

            Hunk opened his eyes briefly to look at Lance. His hand reached out to rest on top of his, “Lance if I don’t make it-”

            “Don’t say that! Don’t even go there!” Lance screamed, feeling tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. “You’re going to be okay. More than okay, okay?” his voice cracked at the end as he desperately searched the sky for Shiro.

            Hunk managed to let out a small chuckle, “Only because you say so.”

            Finally, the Black Lion came into view and landed beside them. Shiro jumped out frantically as Keith and Lance hoisted Hunk off of the ground. “I have some medical supplies inside, bandage him up.” The boys did as they were told, Lance praying for the first time in years.

            They lugged him up to Shiro’s cockpit and he began the fly back immediately. “The emergency kit is in the cabinet to the left. What happened to him?”

            Keith went to the cabinet while Lance stayed with Hunk on the floor, “This planet does not like us, Shiro. I don’t know what kind of peace treaty the Princess signed with them, but burn it. The sooner we’re out of here the better.”

            Keith came back to Hunk with the kit and paused. Lance held out his hand for the bandage but Keith didn’t hand them over. “Shiro he was shot, and we have no idea if it’s laced with anything…we have to get the bullet out.”

            Shiro let out a slew of curses from the pilot’s seat, “Keith take Black, Lance get something for Hunk to bite down on and pull the pair of tweezers out of the medical kit.”

            “We’re doing that here?! Now?!” Lance cried out, “Do you know how? Is it safe? This isn’t sterile! I’ve seen every episode of Grey’s Anatomy and-”

            Shiro placed his hand on his shoulder and looked into Lance’s eyes, instantly brining him a sense of calm, “We don’t have a choice.” He glanced over to Keith, “I know that you’re going through a lot right now…” His eyes darted to Lance’s exposed soulmark, “But you have to breathe, and stay focused.”  

            The back of Lance’s mind was a battlefield of unwelcomed questions: How did Shiro know about that? How long had Keith known they were soulmates? Why did Keith not tell him? Why did Keith look so hot without a shirt on? All bombarded and bounced around loudly even though he tried to lock them away to focus on Hunk. Each time he managed to get one to disperse, another popped back up. But he knew Shiro was right, he had to focus and stay calm. He could deal with anything, even Keith being his soulmate, as long as Hunk lived.

            Keith looked over his shoulder, “Shiro, we have about five minutes until we reach the castle. If you’re going to do it, do it now.”

            Shiro nodded and looked down to a half-conscious Hunk, “I’m sorry about this.” He grabbed the tweezers from Lance and stuck them directly into the wound and Lance nearly fainted on the spot. Hunk let out a piercing scream and reached for Lance’s hand. Lance didn’t know who was squeezing who harder. Shiro kept his face stoic as he searched for the bullet and after a moment Hunk passed out completely. Lance continued to squeeze Hunk’s hand even though his had gone limp.

            “He’s okay, just passed out. He’s going to be okay.” Lance wasn’t sure if Shiro was talking to him or himself, but either way it barely brought comfort. All Lance wanted in the world was for his soulmark to tingle and feel reassurance, the only thing in the world that could always calm him down.

            And it had been Keith every single time.

            Lance hadn’t realized he had been holding his breath, but the second that Shiro said, “I got it!” he let it all out. Shiro extracted the tweezers with an odd shaped piece of metal, “I’ll give this to Coran to analyze when we get back. How are we Keith?”

            “Getting ready to land. Take the wheel back over, Black definitely doesn’t like me flying her.” Keith said, a slight tone of defensiveness in his voice.

            Shiro looked back to Lance and put his hand on his shoulder, “You did well, Lance. Hunk’s going to be okay and you’re a big part of that.”

            Lance nodded and felt his eyes tear up again. Keith came back over and helped Lance get Hunk hoisted up, slinging his arms across each of their shoulders. “Why is it always us lugging around passed out teammates?” Keith quipped.

            Lance was beyond angry at Keith about everything that had happened, but in the moment he was grateful and let himself be comforted by the love of his life, “At least you’re not pretending to not know who I am this time.”

            The smile left Keith’s face and Lance realized that his tone had been harsher than he intended it to be. He was about to apologize when they reached the hanger. Shiro landed his lion with a grace Lance never seemed to manage, even in the best circumstances, and he was pretty sure that if he had been in charge of flying he would have crashed Blue directly into the castle.

            They carried Hunk out of Black to where Allura, Coran, and Pidge were waiting. Pidge had clearly been crying while Allura and Coran had been saving face until they saw the condition Hunk was in. Allura brought her hand up to her face and gasped at his blood-drenched leg while Coran took a step back. He regained his composure quickly and said, “Come on, no time to waste!” He led them to healing bay where he had already prepared the cryo-pod. Hunk flittered in and out of consciousness which actually made Lance feel better.

            “You’re almost there, Hunk. Just hang on a little longer.”

            They finally got Hunk into the pod and it sealed shut, causing everyone to take a deep breath of relief. Lance wasn’t positive if Hunk was going to pull through unscathed, but at the very least he was on his way there. He pressed his hand against the glass, “How long will he have to stay in there?”

            “I’m not sure,” Allura said softly, “I want to at least leave him overnight and I can check his vitals in the morning. It looks like he lost a lot of blood.”

            Pidge went up to Lance and hugged his middle. He, Pidge, and Hunk had instantly bonded the day they were assigned as a team at the Garrison. They made a perfect trio and had done everything together for years, and now they were close to losing a third of their little family.

            “Lance?”

            “Yeah, buddy?”

            “Why the hell are you and Keith half naked?”

            Lance glared down at them and smushed his elbow into the top of their hair, “We used our shirts to tie the wound, you little perv!”

            Pidge tried to push Lance away, shouting “Hey!” at the on-going noggie. Pidge looked over to Keith and bit their lip, “Uh, does that mean…you saw…?”

            Lance was silent.

            “Uh! Coran we have the bullet fragment I want you to run tests on it!” Shiro grabbed Pidge by the arm dragging them away from Lance, “And Pidge I need you to look at it too.”

            Before they could protest Allura was pushing Coran toward the exit, “Excellent! Yes I think all of us could be _very_ helpful in discovering its’ properties!”  

            Pidge was crying out in protest while being dragged away and the last thing Lance heard was Shiro scolding them with, “What is the matter with you?”

            Lance and Keith were left with sudden silence in the healing bay. The only sound was the gentle hum of the pod brining their friend back to life. Lance stayed fixated on Hunk, not wanting to look at Keith. He heard him take a step closer to him but still couldn’t turn around.

            “Lance, we need to talk about this.”

            “Just tell me one thing.” he finally gained the courage to look at him. He was so fucking beautiful, and Lance hated him for it. He looked terrified, but nodded. “How long have you known?” Keith closed his eyes and hung his head, “How long?!” Lance repeated, losing control of his tone.

            Keith looked back up at him, his eyes holding fear and self-loathing “I’ve known for over four years. Since the flight academy before the Garrison. That first day when you showed it off to everyone? I felt it. I felt you.”

            Lance felt a level of anger rise in him he wasn’t aware he could possess. Keith had known and never told him. All of the times that Lance had said he wanted to meet his soulmate, the times he was worried that he would die and his soulmate would be alone. Every moment he had confided in Keith, and all of the times he had touched his soulmark during missions. It had been Keith, and he had pretended that he had no idea.  

            Lance slowly walked toward Keith.

            “I’m sorry. I know that I-”

            He was cut off by Lance slapping him across the face and exiting the room.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUST STAY ALIVE, THAT WOULD BE ENOUGH. 
> 
> Connor: "Oh, babe, you made a typo. You misspelled 'They fall in love and live happily ever after' by like 2000 words." 
> 
> So next Monday is Columbus day so I will not be posting another chapter. I will be working 12 hour shifts Saturday-Monday in addition to my regular schedule (yyyay sales) so my plans are to be dead on my day off (and by dead I mean binge watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend with Connor and our cat) Thank you for understanding c: <3 (also pray 4 me)
> 
> All of your messages, comments, kudos, art, and head-cannons make my heart swell with joy! I love all of it and even though I don't respond to everything, I read them and they all mean the world to me. 
> 
> I love you guys and I hope you have a great week!!


	16. Just Fine

            Lance liked to think that, in general, he was an emotionally mature guy. He liked to play the Jerk and the Loudmouth, but at the end of the day he knew how to work out his feelings in a constructive way all on his own. He was able to recognize when he was being irrational and when he was in the wrong. Even though he was emotional, he could also be logical.

             He used to think that, at least. When he saw the blue paw print on Keith’s hip that all went to shit.

            He barely had time to process when it happened, and once the storm settled and Hunk was in the cryopod, his mind just made siren noises for an hour straight. He remembered that he slapped Keith across the face, but as soon as he walked out of the room the whole thing felt like an out of body experience.

            He had never in life felt so much anger and happiness about one person, that piece of shit.

            He was absolutely falling in love with that piece of shit.  

            He was already kind of in love with him and didn’t even know it. He spent his adolescence falling in love with Keith. He grew up sending and receiving love from Keith. He made himself go crazy because he was starting to fall for Keith and was worried about betraying…Keith. He had soulmate sex with _Keith_! He had soulmate sex with him and then sat next to him at dinner dozens of times and he knew! He was going to kill him.

            As excited that Lance was that his crush and his soulmate were the same person, he still felt hurt. Keith had lied to him for years, and while he could understand why he wouldn’t want to say anything when they were younger, he felt like he had no excuse to not bring it up during the past several months.

            Every taekwondo lesson that wound up with Lance pinned underneath him, every close call they had with Voltron, the time that Lance had flat out asked him during team building, and the time they fucking kissed- all ample opportunities for Keith to come clean. Lance had confided in Keith numerous times how nervous he was about dying without meeting his soulmate and that was the thing that made him the angriest.

            He didn’t understand how Keith could watch him on the verge of tears and not tell him that he was his soulmate, and that there was no reason to worry. He had lied to his face, and if Lance didn’t know him better, he would think it was cruel.

            But that was the thing: Lance did know him. Lance knew that Keith was alone and scared for his entire childhood. He knew that Keith felt undeserving of love. He knew that he had been a jackass when they were in school together, and that was most likely the reason Keith kept the secret all that time. He knew, he _knew_ that Keith loved him. Keith wasn’t cruel, he was afraid.

            So why was Lance still so mad at him?

            Why was it that he could logically work out why Keith did what he did, but still felt the urge to punt his Bayard into space? He couldn’t figure it out, and he knew he needed someone to talk to, which is how he found himself outside of Shiro’s door in the middle of the night. Lance took a deep breath and lightly rapped his knuckles against the cool metal.

            He was about to turn around a leave when the automatic door opened, showing a suspiciously un-sleepy Shiro. “Lance? Are you okay?” He asked, no trace of sleep in his voice.

            Lance grabbed his arm, feeling foolish for wanting to bother Shiro with his love life, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I just...” He paused and tried to think of what to say, how to ask three hours’ worth of crisis into a concise question. “How long have you known that Keith was my soulmate?” He blurted out, immediately regretting it. Shiro’s eyes widened in surprise and Lance groaned, bringing up a hand to cover his face, “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant to-”

            “Don’t apologize. Let’s go talk in the kitchen and I’ll try to find something resembling tea for us.”

            Lance followed Shiro to the kitchen, feeling like a child following their dad for A Talking To. They were silent for the most part, Lance still embarrassed by his outburst. He was unaccustomed to seeing Shiro in his pajamas, and for some reason that made the whole situation worse. It was too vulnerable. Lance had been dealing with this alone, and he was about to go to Shiro, not as his leader or as his hero, but as his friend.

            Shiro did manage to find Altean tea in one of the cabinets and brewed two cups. He placed a mug sternly in front of Lance, “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right, okay?” Shiro nodded, and Lance followed suit, “Don’t apologize after every question, and don’t feel like something is off limits. Where do you want to start?”

            Lance took a long gulp from the mug to ready himself and nearly gagged, “Shiro this is garbage.”

            Shiro eye’s narrowed, “Lance that’s not the way to start-”

            “Not you, the tea! It’s awful.” Lance took another sip, maybe he could avoid this conversation all together if he could distract Shiro. He looked up from his mug and saw the Disappointed Dad face and admitted defeat, “Fine. I’m so mad at him, Shiro. I can’t believe he did this to me and that he’s known for so long and that he told _you_ and not me about it. I don’t even know if he’s told anyone else. I don’t know if I can ever trust him again and I hate him so much Shiro, but I am so happy. I’m so fucking happy it’s him. I know it’s because he’s my soulmate but being with him makes me feel comfortable and warm and fuzzy, and I felt so bad for having those feelings before I knew he was my soulmate! I was falling in love with him while having a soulmate and that’s wrong! I loved my soulmate too! And I felt like such a shitty person for having feelings for two people, but they’re the same person! I am so happy about that! How could I not be happy about that? I don’t have to feel guilty anymore! I don’t have to hate myself for having late-night fantasies of an alternate universe where Keith is my soulmate. But I want to murder him for making me suffer through months of self-hatred and guilt. I haven’t touched my soulmark for thirty-six hours and that may not seem like much time, but I am needy, okay? Now nothing. Nothing! I miss him, I miss him as my soulmate but also as my sparring partner and my friend and as the person I banter with. I miss his mullet, Shiro. I hate that stupid thing but I miss it with all my heart and now I’m crying with you in the middle of space drinking tea that tastes like the way Hunk’s foot smells and all I want is my soulmate. I just want Keith.”

            “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.”

✧✧✧

            It took two days for Hunk to fully heal and come out of the pod. The tests that they ran on bullet showed that it had in fact been laced with a venom that could have killed Hunk if it had stayed in his leg. Keith was relieved that they took it out and that Hunk was alright, but the relief was small compared to the guilt and anger he felt surrounding the way Lance found out that they’re soulmates.

            He was mostly mad at himself. If he had just kept his mouth shut. If they had left the city five minutes earlier. If he had gone back to the castle with Pidge, Shiro, and Allura like he originally wanted to. If he had gotten shot instead of Hunk. Keith thought of every possible way that everything could have been avoided. And as much as he wished that one of them were real, he knew that if he had just been honest with Lance weeks ago, then everything wouldn’t be crashing around him at once. There would have been a small chance of him and Lance being together someday, compared to the zero chance he had now. Lance would never trust him again, and one small difference could have changed that.

            It had only been two days but it was still the longest that Keith had gone without feeling something from his soulmark. That had been the single constant in his life. Through every abusive foster home or any length of homelessness while running away, he could always rely on his soulmate sending him love and support. The small blue paw print on his hip was the one reminder he could love and be loved.

            And now that was gone. Keith was half tempted to touch his own mark, to communicate to Lance how sorry he was and how much he missed him but he knew better. He knew that Lance needed space to process, and if he wasn’t ready to talk Keith was going to respect that for as long as he could. At some point, they would have to form Voltron and communicate with each other, but other than that Keith would let him be. It was possible that Lance was going to hate him for the rest of his life, something that Keith had prepared for anyway. At least now he wasn’t going to have to lie anymore.

            Luckily, Hunk’s recovery was smooth so that Keith’s spiral of self-loathing didn’t have an extra layer of guilt. Regardless, he had made sure to watch over the cryopod whenever he could, even when Coran told him that Hunk would make a full recovery. He felt like it was the least he could do, seeing as his talking back is what got him shot in the first place.

            A couple of times he walked in and saw Lance sitting there already. He would hang back, allowing Lance to stay as long as he needed. And seeing him talk to Hunk, even though he knew he couldn’t hear him, made Keith’s heart swell and break all over again. He played around, but Lance was kind, and when no one was looking he was soft. His heart was huge, and all Keith wanted was a small part of it. He was happy he got to admire it from a distance, and missed when Lance shared that side with him, even though he did so unknowingly.

            When it was about time for the pod to release him, everyone made sure to be there. It was the first time he and Lance were in the same room since Lance slapped him. Coran was looking at the biometrics and rattling on about how Hunk had recovered beautifully, but Keith couldn’t hear a word of it. He was too busy trying to not look at Lance and failing. Lance was obviously doing the same thing since they had accidently made eye contact and Keith’s heart jumped. He felt his fingers twitch as they instinctively went for his soulmark, but he stopped them. It wasn’t the time, and Lance’s shock-stricken face proved it.

            “Keith, can you join me in the hall for a moment?” Shiro’s tone made it clear that it was not a question. With one last quick look to Lance, Keith nodded and followed him out into the hall.

            “What’s up?” he tried to sound casual, but knew he sounded anything but.

            Shiro sighed and his eyes softened, “Have the two of you talked at all?”

            Keith dropped his shoulders, “No, he doesn’t want to talk to me. I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t want to talk to me either.”

            “Believe me, he wants to talk to you.”

            Keith cocked his head slightly, intrigued, “Why do you say that?”

            Shiro put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, “We talked for a long time last night, and it’s not my place to tell you exactly what he said, but he misses you.”

            Keith felt his face flush with anger, “Well he has a funny way of showing it! He’s refused to be in the same room as me since he found out.” It was one thing if Lance was going to hate and avoid him, but to ignore him while he actively wanted to talk was ridiculous. He had assumed that Lance was planning on how to next destroy him, not that he was also miserable and lonely.

            “Don’t get me wrong, Keith he’s angry. I don’t want you to think he’s not mad at you, but he’s also relieved.”

            “Relieved?” And Keith felt it, the smallest seed of hope rooting in his stomach. It glowed warm and for the first time in days he felt something akin to joy. He knew Lance was feeling a lot of different things, but he never would have guessed that relief would be on the list.

            “Again, not my place but,” Shiro smiled sweetly, and looked Keith in the eye to show he meant what he was saying, “Don’t give up hope.”

            Keith smiled, trying to keep his eyes from tearing up, “Thank you, Shiro.” He sniffled and shook his head to clear his mind, “Come on, Hunk is going to come out soon, he should wake up to all of us.”

             ✧✧✧

            Shiro followed behind Keith back to the cryopod. He hung in the back of the room and Allura rushed to his side. She had known that he had stayed up with Lance all night and was equally as worried about the boys, “How is Keith? Is he going to be alright?”  She asked, her voice low so that only Shiro could hear her.

            Shiro looked back up and saw Keith standing beside Lance. He didn’t see either of their mouths move, but he did see Keith gently slip his hand into Lance’s, and Lance squeezing it for dear life. Shiro pulled Allura close to him and kissed her temple, “Yeah, he’s gonna be just fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> Well I survived my 60-hour work week and subsequent vacation! I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you all like it too! Especially because, fam, we are finally getting some fluff up in this bitch. 
> 
> You are all amazing, and I love talking to all of you!! Your support over my little story astounds me everyday<3 (Also Connor loves to hear about all of you being on his side. You are all Naughty Children!!) 
> 
> One side note- you guys are so split between who you think is more in the right, Keith or Lance, and as an author that is the single coolest and most amazing thing to ever happen to me. It makes me feel like I did my job having two characters reach out to people in different ways. It's amazing. So thank you so much to everyone who commented their thoughts. I cherish and read all of them<3  
> Have an amazing week everyone<3


	17. Tranquility

            Keith had always liked looking at the stars. When he was a child, he would sneak away to look at the pretty shimmering sky, and he knew that while he was out there, no one would hurt him. His foster-parents of the month or week or year wouldn’t bother waking up to find him, so he would have peace. He would stay out for hours, marveled by how far away the stars were, and he would wish with all his heart that someday he could be that far away too.

            Which is why when he was finally placed with a decent foster family, he begged to go to school to become a pilot. He had applied and been awarded a full scholarship so they wouldn’t have to pay for him to go, and they could still collect the checks from the government. It was a win for both parties. Keith had no emotional attachment to the Matranos, but he would always be grateful that they let him follow his dreams.

            And he did it. He made sure that he was the best at everything he did to keep the scholarship and every night would dream about the day he would leave the planet that hurt him so badly behind. In his mind, Earth only had one good thing going for it, and that was his soulmate. Even though his soulmate had gotten him through everything, he would have been willing to leave them behind if it meant going into space, but he guessed the universe finally owed him one.

            He looked out one of the windows, at stars that had never been charted by human eyes and felt something he hadn’t felt often in his twenty-two years of life; tranquility. Somehow, he had gotten up here and even managed to do it soulmate in tow. Said soulmate was still not speaking to him regularly, but the two of them were on the right path. He wished he could go back to his childhood self and tell him to keep going, keep stargazing; it would all be worth it.

            After Hunk had woken up, Lance pulled Keith aside and told him that they would eventually talk about everything, he just wasn’t ready, and that he was sorry. He was able to accept that, and it was honestly more than he had expected after just two days. They had a lot to work through, but for the first time he thought that just maybe, everything was going to be okay.

            That had been three days ago; five in total since The Reveal, and the two of them still hadn’t touched their soulmarks. From everything, that was what upset Keith the most. It was the longest he had gone without feelings Lance’s vibrancy, and he missed it. It was weird, to miss someone he saw every day, but he missed the intimacy. He also missed the _intimacy_ but that was a different problem altogether.

            Overall, he was happy. He had his stars and he had his soulmate; he got lucky for once in his damn life, and the once was enough. He’d do it all the same if he had to. Every day of isolation and wanting to give up, he’d relive it if it meant he wound up where he was. If it meant he wound up under the stars and by Lance’s side.

            “Hey.”

            Keith turned his head, slightly startled but the sudden noise. Lance, in his pajamas with bags under his eyes that showed he hadn’t been sleeping either. He stayed standing a few feet away from Keith even though he had been sitting down in the empty hallway.

            “Hi.” He turned his head back around and waited for Lance to say or do anything. He didn’t want to push, Lance needed to do this at his own pace. He waited a few moments and heard Lance’s footsteps walking back toward the direction he came. “Lance, where are you going?”

            “I figured you wanted to be alone, I didn’t mean to-”

            “Sit down.” If Lance had plopped down any closer to Keith, he would have been sitting on Keith’s lap, which made him smile. “I did want to be alone, but I’ve been alone with you my whole life.”

            Lance chuckled softly, “I guess that’s true. For both of us. We’ve never been without each other.” There was an awkward pause, and Keith could feel Lance really processing that thought. “Man, that is _weird_.”

            Keith lost it, he burst into a laughter so deep his eyes started to tear up. “Magic as old as the cosmos and you just say ‘man, that’s weird’!”

            “It is weird!” Lance’s entire face turned red and he brought his knees up to his chest to hug them, “Every single time I’ve pooped you’ve been magically connected to it, suck it Kogane.”

            Keith continued to laugh so hard that his stomach began to ache. This was the love of his life; the one the universe handpicked for him. “You are ridiculous. That’s what comes to your mind!”

            “Don’t laugh at me! It’s true!” Lance whined and hid his head in his lap, but ultimately joined Keith in his laughter. After a beat of silence Lance turned his head so that it was still resting on his knees and said, “I’m sorry.”

            Keith coked his head to the side, baffled by the serious tone in Lance’s voice, “You don’t have to apologize, I’ll never admit it to anyone else but I really like that you’re ridiculous.”

            “Not about that. I’m sorry I slapped you. I was angry in the moment and not thinking and it wasn’t, I mean I wasn’t-”

            Keith cut him off before he could really get started, “You don’t have to apologize.”

            “Yes I do!” Lance’s head shot up and Keith was taken aback by the desperate look in his eyes. “Keith I know what your childhood was like. I remember all the times you felt scared and alone and in _pain_ I- I knew.” His voice trailed off, “I didn’t know what it meant when I was little, ya know, but I figured it out and then my response was to hit you and.” His eyes started to tear up and Keith immediately reached out for him.

            Keith had been through hell and back, but what Lance was comparing it to wasn’t anywhere close. Sure he had been pissed about the slap, but in no way did he think it close to what he went through as a child. “Lance, it’s okay.”

            “It’s not.”

            Keith caressed Lance’s cheek soothingly, “Okay, it wasn’t okay but I understand. It wasn’t okay for me to lie to you for years either. We both messed up but, I think, I hope, we can move forward.”

            Lance leaned into the touch and nodded, “I’m sorry. And I’m mad that you lied. Pissed and mostly sorry. Is that alright?”

            Keith nodded, “That’s alright.”

            Lance adjusted himself so that his head could rest on Keith’s shoulder, “So it was you all along. My soulmate. My hot ginger female soulmate who loves cats.”

            Keith chuckled and intertwined his fingers with Lance’s, “You want to have this talk now?”

            Lane shook his head, “Not really. I need, like, one more day to actually process but." Lance squeezed his hand, "I’m happy it’s you.”

            Keith looked down to see Lance gazing at the stars. His boy and his stars, all he ever needed, “I’m happy it’s you too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Babies, I have not had a day off since I posted the last chapter. Two of those days I worked 12 hours a shift. I am. some kind of way. But I didn't want you guys to have to wait an additional week! Please forgive any typos! 
> 
> I love all of you like you can't understand. I am so grateful for every comment and kudos and message <3  
> I actually have days off this week!! So new chapter for Monday :)


	18. Not in Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SEXUAL CONTENT**  
> (The explicit content is between the horizontal page breaks if you want to skip it)

           Lance was not in love. He loved his soulmate, and he had a crush on Keith. That used to be two separate ideas that he liked to keep in two separate little bubbles. Now it was one big bubble. Keith was his soulmate but he didn’t _love_ Keith, not like that. He did love him, though! Just not in a romantic way. He loved him like he loved Hunk; as him teammate and as his friend, and he did still have a crush on him! But it would be crazy to say he loved him. A crush was not the same thing as loving someone so that level of emotional attachment would be crazy!

            So he loved him a little, but he wasn’t in love with him. He told himself he wasn’t in love with him yet. Lance only knew they were soulmates for a week so it wasn’t possible to love someone that fast, or at least not be in _love_ love with them. Right?

            Lance was in love.

             He shouldn’t have been so surprised; after all, he was the only kid in his class who skipped the girls-have-cooties phase and went straight for the I-can’t-wait-to-marry-my-soulmate phase. A part of him was still surprised though. He knew he had a crush on Keith, and he had for a while, but now it was different. He had less thoughts like “Keith’s ass is damn fine” and had more thoughts along the lines of, “I want to cherish that damn fine ass” The physical attraction was still there, but the emotional connection he felt to Keith grew like wild fire.

            He knew that today was the day they were finally going to talk, and put all the proverbial cards on the table. He was scared, but a little part of him was also excited. They hadn't touched their soulmarks since Lance had found out they were soulmates and other than the brief time they held hands before Hunk woke up,  they hadn't had time for actual touching either, and he was about to go crazy.

            They had been too busy retrieving the Yalexian Pearl on the planet Krell. They were supposed to be going to training grounds in the Karthulian System, but before they knew it everything had spiraled out of control and they had to save Coran. Keith and Lance had planned on talking after training, but by the time they saved Coran and got back to the castle, they both just wanted to sleep.

            Now, so long as an enemy ship managed to stay away for twenty-four hours, everyone was taking time off. He had a feeling that the rest of the team knew that they would be talking. Shiro wasn’t on his case to train and Coran wasn’t assigning him chores. Both of which were guaranteed when Lance usually had some downtime. The two of them didn’t set a specific time or place, but Lance had a good feeling about where Keith would be.

            He walked to the hallway where the two of them had stargazed together. Keith was there, looking up to the cosmos with a sense of quiet that Lance could never manage. He was gorgeous. The sound of the door sliding shut made Keith turn around. “Hey,” he said, “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show.”

            “No, no we did not set a time to meet, it is literally impossible for me to be late to something with no start time!” Keith smiled and Lance joined him on the floor. He stopped pouting and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, “You did really great yesterday.”

            Keith’s smile grew, and he relaxed into Lance’s touch, “So did you. It was nice to eat something other than Coran’s goo.”

            “An unexpected silver lining from the surprise shitshow yesterday.” Lance moved his arm to Keith’s other shoulder and pulled him close, “I missed you.”

            Keith’s head dropped to rest on Lance’s shoulder, “Me too.”

            Lance’s heart thumped and his cheeks turned pink. Casual intimacy with Keith was definitely something he could get used to. “How do we even start this conversation?”

            Keith sighed and closed his eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You…were such a _dick_ when we were in school.”

            Lance groaned, “I know, I was so frustrated that you kept beating me at every little thing and I hated you for it. And I understand why you didn’t tell me back then, but…” He paused and shut his eyes, trying to find the words he needed, “Why didn’t you tell me when we started getting along or…or when you saved my life and you _kissed_ me.”

            “Lance, I tried!” Keith bolted upright.

            “What?!”

            “I tried to tell you right after that, and you told me that you could never be with me, that you could never kiss me again.”

            “Well, yeah, because I thought I was cheating on my soulmate!”

            Keith looked down, avoiding Lance’s gaze, “Are you sure that’s the only reason?”

            Lance grabbed Keith’s face and brought their lips together. Enough was enough. He had been soulmark-starved for a week, and seeing Keith look unsure of Lance’s feelings was his tipping point. The kiss was hard and desperate, much like their first, but now neither of them were in a rush to pull away from one another. When Lance finally did pull away, he rested his forehead on Keith’s, “Of course that’s the only reason! Keith for weeks I’ve been spiraling with guilt about having feeling for you.”

            “No you have not. There is no way that you-” Before Keith could finish his sentence, Lance placed his hand on his own hip, knowing it was the only way that he would believe him. He looked at the immediate realization on Keith’s face as he sent him waves of confusion, frustration, but mostly of love. Keith looked down to his hip and then back up at Lance, his eyes wide. “You…?”

            “Yes.”

            “Come here, right now.” Keith grabbed Lance and kissed him again. Lance shifted so that he was on top of Keith lowering them to the floor completely, the two of them never breaking contact. Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck, and let out a small moan.

            Lance ground his hips into Keith’s and broke his lips away to leave small kisses on his neck. “I’ve missed you,” he kissed his neck again, “So much,” and again, “I’ve thought about this for so long.”

            Keith’s hips writhed with every kiss, and Lance thought he was going to lose control before they even began. Keith’s arm moved away from his neck and shimmied in-between them and into his own pants. Before Lance could ask what he was doing he was overwhelmed with the sensations of love and arousal.

            “Me too.” Keith said, softly smirking.

            Lance propped himself up with his hands, putting a little distance between them, “I don’t want to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

            Keith laughed, “Yeah, I would prefer not to lose my virginity on a hallway floor. But.” He pulled Lance down for another kiss, “I wouldn’t mind some more of this.”

            Lance smirked, “Why, Keith, you little perv!”

            Keith smushed his hands into Lance’s face and laughed, “You’re the pervert! I’m surprised your hand isn’t chapped with how often you jerk off.”

            Lance ground his obvious erection into Keith’s hip, “Not my fault! I am a hormonal guy forced to see your ass in tight pants every day. I do what I gotta do.”

            Keith’s hand reached up to stroke Lance’s hair and his heart melted. “You really think that way about me?”

            Lance deadpanned, “Literally every time we had soulmark sex I thought of you pinning me down during one of our taekwondo lessons.”

            Keith smiled, “If I didn’t feel it, I wouldn’t believe it.”

* * *

          “I can make you feel it another way too.” Lance reached for Keith’s hips and tugged lightly at the hem of his pants. He looked up at Keith for permission to keep going before pulling them completely down. Keith kicked off his boots and unclipped his belt, leaving him only in his boxers and t-shirt. Even though he had gotten the approval from Keith just a second ago, Lance bit his lip and asked, “Can I take these off?” with his fingers hooking into the elastic of Keith’s boxers.

            Keith’s eyes were already shut tight and he nodded enthusiastically, “Please.”

            That was all Lance needed before he yanked down the piece of fabric to release Keith’s erection. He took hold of the base and squeezed a moan out of Keith. It was the first time Lance had done anything like this with another person, and never in his wildest dreams did he anticipate getting to second base for the first time with a guy in general, let alone with Keith. But in the moment, it seemed right, like he had been waiting for Keith all his life. In a way, he had.

            His hand moved up slowly and then back down again, hesitantly repeating the motion until Keith’s hips began to buck into his hand, giving him the confidence to move at a faster pace. Lance leaned down to kiss Keith again, this time slow, the two of them taking their time to explore each other for the first time.

            Keith pulled away and buried his face into Lance’s shoulder, biting him before asking, “Can you use your mouth?”

            Lance paused for a moment and his eyes lit up. He kissed Keith quickly on the lips and left a trail of them down his chest, leaving little love bites on his way down as well. He got down to Keith’s hips and stopped just before the paw-print. Blue, his blue, was so pretty. He leaned down to kiss the spot and on contact, his arousal doubled instantly sending a wave of heat through him that he never felt before.

            Keith jerked up, “What did you do?” He didn’t seemed panicked, but from the look on his face Lance had the feeling that Keith just felt the same thing.

            “I touched your soulmark and I think I felt…exactly what you’re feeling.” Lance hesitated before leaning down and touching the mark lightly. Again, he felt the burning entanglement of his and Keith’s arousal. Keith propped himself up with one hand and the other went into Lance’s hair.

            “Oh my god, Lance please.” Lance wanted to take that sentence and somehow frame it. He wanted to carry it around in a silver locket, he wanted to record it and listen to it over and over again until the day he died.

            He moved his hand from Keith’s hip and gripped the base of his cock. He gave the tip a small kiss before enveloping the base in his mouth. He moved his head up and down in time with his hand. Keith’s hands were pulling at his hair, making Lance take him in deeper. “Lance, I’m so close.” Keith whined out.

            “Here, stand up. I wana come with you.”

            Keith obliged, leaning against the cool glass of the hallway’s window. Lance steadied himself on his knees in front of him, used one hand to grip Keith’s hip and the other to stroke himself. He brought Keith into his mouth again, and with the sensation of both of their arousals, Lance knew neither of them were going to last long. It was the best thing he had ever felt in his life.

            Keith was moaning loudly, and if it weren’t for the solid metal door blocking them from the rest of the castle, lance was certain someone would have overheard them.

            “Lance!” Keith dragged out his name into another moan and Lance bobbed his head faster. “Oh my god, Lance I’m gonna- Can I?”

            Lance nodded, his hand jerking himself desperately until he was hit with the most intense orgasm of his life. Keith’s fingers were embedded into his hair and pulling so tight Lance was worried his hair was going to get ripped out. He swallowed Keith’s cum and panted slightly, coming down from the high. Keith slid to the ground and buried his face into the crook of Lance’s neck.

            Lance went from his knees into a sitting position, brining Keith with him so he could curl into his lap. “How the hell are you so good at that?” Keith asked him exasperatedly.

            Lance chuckled, “I’ve seen a lot of porn in my time.” He kissed the top of Keith’s head and Keith pulled away to look into Lance’s eyes.

* * *

            “Was that...okay?”

            Lance nodded, “That was more than okay. For you?”

            Keith nodded, “More than okay.” He got up and held out a hand for Lance to take ahold of it, “Come on, let’s go.”  

            Lance cocked his head to the side but took Keith’s hand regardless, “Where are we going?”

            Keith put his clothes back on and smiled, “I want to take a nap with my boyfriend in an actual bed, not on the floor. Come on.”

            Boyfriend. That was a word Lance could get used to. “Your room or mine?”

           

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween babies!!!!  
> Y'all wanted ten chapters of bjs well here IS NUMBER ONE. The beginning of the chapter can be replaced by watching "Won't Say I'm in Love" tbh. The details in this chapter come from the Voltron comics which are very good and you should absolutely read them if you haven't!! 
> 
> I had a meltdown writing this chapter because of my love/hate relationship with writing smut but here we go I hope you like it. For now on I will be putting the explicit content between page breaks so that they can easily be skipped over for all my babes who don't love it <3 
> 
> Thank you thank you for the kind words, as always, you guys amaze me. 
> 
> See everyone next week!! <3


	19. Joy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has reference to past sexual content and KISSES

            Keith discovered a new meaning to the word joy. When he was small, joy was moments of peace under a dark sky and dreams of tomorrow. When he was older joy became the moments between takeoff and landing; when he owned the sky. Now joy was Lance, sleeping completely sprawled out against his chest and drooling. Keith played with his hair absentmindedly, enamored by how comfortable Lance seemed to be.

            They had spent the entire day in bed together, cycling between napping and kissing. He knew that they would have to go to dinner soon, especially since they had skipped lunch altogether, but he couldn’t find the strength to wake Lance up a moment before absolutely necessary.

            He had never had this. He had dreamt about it, spent hours wondering what Lance would feel like in his arms, but he never thought that it would actually happen. He especially never thought it would actually happen in the middle of space, but Keith wasn’t picky. He always assumed that sleeping next to Lance would feel strange, but he was happy to be wrong. It was the opposite, sleeping next to him felt like coming home after a long day. He looked over to the small clock on his nightstand and groaned, dinner was in twenty minutes. All he wanted was to stay in this moment forever, but he was positive that Lance had to be starving. He had worked up quite an appetite himself.

            He shook Lance lightly, making him mumble and then cuddle closer into him, making a warm feeling bloom in Keith’s chest. He shook him a little harder, “Come on, sleepyhead. Time to wake up.”

            Lance’s response was a groan and turning his face so that his nose was pressed against Keith’s chest. Keith laughed and moved his fingers down to Lance’s ribs to tickle him. Lance shot up to escape from Keith’s hands, making the blanket go flying, and screamed, “Keith, how dare you!” Making Keith’s light laugh turn into a howl. Lance looked as if Keith had just shot his whole family and made him watch, “I can’t believe my own boyfriend would do this to me. On the very day our relationship was consummated!”

            Keith pulled him back down for a kiss which quickly shut him up, “You’re such a drama queen.” He said against his lips, still holding back laughter.

            Lance pouted and nestled back into Keith’s side, “Yes, but I’m cute and you love it. It’s part of my charm.”

            Keith pulled the blanket back on top of them and kissed the top of Lance’s head, “Whatever you say. And since you didn’t ask, I woke you up because dinner in in about fifteen minutes.”

            “Thank Quiznak, I’m starving.”

            “That’s what happens when you don’t eat all day.”

            Lance’s eyes lit up and he smirked, “I ate _something_ today. A whole lot of it.” Keith blushed and turned his head, not able to make eye contact after such a lewd comment. Lance chuckled evilly, but then paused and pressed a kiss into Keith’s neck and looked up at him, “I have a kinda awkward question.”

            Keith felt uneasy about the sudden switch in Lance’s demeanor. He went from laughing to looking embarrassed and it made a knot form in Keith’s stomach. He tried to stay calm and nodded, “Yeah?”

            Lance sat up in the bed so that he was sitting cross legged next to Keith, “So, when we were on the ship when Hunk got shot and you were flying Black, Shiro….knew.”

            “What do you mean?”

            Lance pursed his lips together and continued, “He said something like, I know that you’re going through a lot right now, and then looked right at my soulmark. So unless he thought my appendix was bursting, he knew that we were soulmates.”

            Keith nodded, shame making him blush slightly “I told him back at The Garrison. I held onto the secret for so long by myself, I just wanted _somebody_ to know.”

            Lance rolled his eyes playfully, “God forbid I was that somebody.” Keith smiled and shoved him lightly. “So Since Shiro knew…do any of the others?”

            Keith hissed lightly, “Yeah,” he drew out, “Pidge knows. Well Pidge figured it out on their own as soon as I said their brother was my soulma- oh fuck.”

            “ _What?!”_

Keith regretted it the second it slipped out, “Don’t tell them you know! But yeah, Pidge is actually Katie Holt and Matt-“

            “Pidge is a _girl?_ ” Lance’s eyes were wide and he was shaking his head, looking like he just discovered the world was round instead of flat.

            Keith bit the inside of his cheek, “Not really, Pidge prefers gender neutral pronouns but was born as Katie Holt, Matt’s younger sibling.”

            Lance paused and then laughed, “Man, you picked, like, the one worst name in the universe! That’s what you get for lying!”

            Keith shook his head but was smiling, “I guess you’re right. So yes, Pidge knows. Allura probably knows because Shiro probably told her.”

            Lance cocked his head, “Why would Shiro tell Allura?”

            Keith knew that Lance did not notice the obvious. It was well established that even when things were clearly in black and white, Lance would look at it and somehow see purple. But this was beyond anything that Keith had expected, he had to know but he said it anyway, “Lance, Shiro and Allura are dating.”

            “Oh my god.” He said quietly.

            “Lance, you had to have known.”

            “Oh…my god!” He repeated a little louder. Keith could see the cogs finally turning in his head.

            “You can’t be that oblivious! It’s impossible!” Lance was still looking into the distance, his face completely blank, “They hold hands every time they’re together!”

            Lance turned to him and put a finger against his lips, “You don’t tell anyone. Shit.” He pursed his lips, “I definitely walked in on them making out on the floor the other day, and Shiro said he was giving Allura CPR from choking and I just _believed_ him!”

            Keith closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, “Should I tell you that we’re dating too or-?”

            “Shut up!” Lance ripped the blanket away and wrapped it around himself, covering his head, “I just found out my whole world is a lie and you’re patronizing me. What kind of boyfriend does that?”

            Keith crawled over and slipped the blanket down to Lance’s shoulders, and kissed him, “One who has been through the ringer for four years.”

            Lance adjusted so that he could sit on Keith’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck, “Fair enough.”

            Keith leaned up and captured his lips again, this keep deeper than the others. Their shirts and pants were abandoned long ago, giving Keith easy access to Lance’s chest. They were both already covered in love bites and bruises, but Keith was happy to give Lance more. He bit down on Lance’s shoulder making him moan. He would never grow tired of hearing that sound; of being the cause of that sound.

            Before they could get into round twenty of the day, Lance’s stomach let out a loud grumble. Lance’s cheeks turned pink and he smiled, “Sorry, for once I actually have something on my mind other than your ass.” He said wistfully.

            Keith laughed into Lance’s neck, giving him one last kiss on the new hickey before pulling away, “Let’s go eat, we should just about make it on time.”

✧✧✧

            They were late. By the time that they both managed to get dressed and leave their love-cocoon, dinner had already started. Lance knew that Hunk would have his head for it, but it was worth it. Keith slipped his hand into his and they made their way to the kitchen.

            “Uh, just so you know…your hickies are visible even with your jacket on.”

            Lance laughed, “Damn, I must have left my scarf and concealer in my other castle space ship.” Keith huffed and ripped his hand away, but Lance immediately grabbed it back, “Besides, so are yours.”

            Keith’s other hand reached up to touch his neck, “Oh, great. Well, I mean I assumed we’d be telling everyone tonight anyway.”

            “Tell everyone? Don’t you mean tell Hunk? He’s the only one who doesn’t know!”

            Keith grinned sheepishly, “I bet he knows already.”

            “No. That means that literally _everyone_ knew before me and I’ll have a stroke if that’s true.”

            “Coran maybe doesn’t know…unless Allura or Pidge told him…”

            Lance groaned, “All of you are the worst. I bet you a blowjob that Hunk doesn’t know. He’s my best friend, he would have told me if he knew.”

            Keith laughed, “I will absolutely take that bet.”

            The pair reached the kitchen and everyone was already well into their space-goo. Lance noticed that Shiro and Allura were holding hands under the table and he quietly cursed himself for not noticing that just one day sooner. Everyone stopped as they walked in and stared at them.

            Pidge and Allura was grinning, Hunk’s and Coran’s eyes were wide with delight, and Shiro looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head.  

            “Congratulations!” Hunk exclaimed, standing up from the table to bring both of the boys into a giant hug. “Honestly, when we didn’t see both of you all day, we were all worried that one of you was going to straight up kill the other one but!” His excitement waned slightly, “Looks like that wasn’t what was happening…” he leered at Lance’s neck and tilted his head, “maybe?”  

            Lance shoved Hunk away, “So how long have you known?”

            Hunk laughed, “Uh, a while. Pidge told me.”

            “Hey!” Pidge interjected, “Only because Keith told me!”

            Allura slammed her fist on the table, “I knew it!”

            Shiro ducked his head into his hands, “Guys.” He tried, but the commotion only grew, everyone questioning when each member of the team found out.

            Lance looked to Coran, his only hope of not being the last one to know his own goddam soulmate, “Coran, Buddy?” he tried.

            Coran took a large sip from his glass and looked away, “You won’t like my answer.”

            “Dammit!” Lance exclaimed, “When did you find out? Allura did you tell him?!”

            “No!” She exclaimed.

            Coran cleared his throat, “I’ve known since before either of you were born.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O SHIT get ready for some World building and Lore next chapter!!!! 
> 
> for those of you who don't follow me on tumblr, I wrote most of this chapter at Panera bread today and one of the employees asked me if I was writing an essay for school and I was Dying™ like no ma'am just some gay boys, nothing academic. 
> 
> **Next week I have a 12 hour shift on Monday so I will be updating on Tuesday instead**
> 
> Writing this chapter made my whole insides feel fluffy like. I dunno I love writing fluff and the boys being affectionate so I hope you all like it too :)   
> Thank you for the comments and kudos, as always you guys are the BEST and I love you to pieces <3


	20. The First Paladins

            “Coran, _what?”_ Lance was not the only one surprised by the declaration, everyone around the table had their jaws dropped. He looked to Keith, trying to figure out if he had known that as well, but he looked just as bewildered.

            Coran cleared his throat, “You five are not the first Paladins of Voltron. Voltron is older than even Allura and I by thousands of years. Allura, did your father ever tell you the story of The First Paladins?”

            Allura shook her head, “No, father didn’t intend for me to take over as commander for many more years…he said there would come a time but.” She stopped and looked down in to her lap, “He always said the legend was a privilege I would earn.”

            Coran lifted her chin with his finger, making her look him in the eye, “And you have earned it.” She smiled at him and he turned to the group before speaking again, “You all have.”

            Lance didn’t know why but he was nervous. He hadn’t intended for this to happen when he asked Coran if he knew that he and Keith were soulmates. He reached for Keith’s hand under the table and squeezed it. He suddenly felt reassurance spreading through his body, and looked to see Keith’s hand lightly touching his soulmark. Lance’s eyes softened and he fell in love all over again, completely forgetting that Coran was about to say something important. 

            “If you two are done making googly eyes at each other, I can begin.” Lance and Keith both blushed and turned their attention back to Coran. “Anyway, as I was saying, the legend of the First Paladins is a story that has been passed down to each ruler and their advisor for thousands of years.”

            “Wait, wait, so ‘thousands’ is a really vague statement. Are we talking, like, five thousand years or like _fifty_ thousand years?” Hunk asked.

            “Also, if the story is passed down orally, it’s most likely highly inaccurate since there is no way to reference past re-tellings.” Pidge added.

            “I can always tell this to Allura in private!” Coran threatened, making everyone quiet down. “ _Anyway_ The First Paladins were a group of five warriors for King Arzod. The five women were his most skilled soldiers, and his most trusted allies. They mostly were there to help with civil unrest and to take out small hostile groups that tried to take over. But then, an enemy ship landed on Altean soil, and The Paladins had to fight an evil unlike anything they had ever seen before. The king had been working on the lions for years in secret, and even though they weren’t complete, he knew that giving the lions to The Paladins was their only chance at keeping Altea in safe hands.

            “The lions were lacking something, and even though they couldn’t figure out what, The Paladins were able to abolish the invaders. It took their entire lifetime, but it had been worth it to keep Altea safe. On their deathbeds, they were worried that the knowledge of the lions would be lost forever, so they had the king upload their consciousness into each of their lions creating a unique AI for each one.”

            “Is that why I can feel Blue talking to me?” Lance asked him quietly.

            “Precisely! Blue is not only a piece of machinery, but the very heart and soul of the original Blue Paladin.”

            “What does that have to do with me and Lance?” Keith asked, sounding exasperated.

            Coran smiled gently, “They original Red and Blue Paladins were soulmates, and loved each other deeply.”

            “But Coran,” Allura said softly, “Alteans don’t have soulmates.”

            “Ah!” Coran held up his finger and pressed it underneath her chin, again making her look him in the eye, “Alteans may not have soul _marks_ but we absolutely have soul _mates_. The lore has been lost over the past centuries because we have no way to prove it but,” He looked at Keith and Lance, “it looks like we finally have some tangibility!”

            Lance put his face on his hands, “So, Keith is only my soulmates because Allura happened to assign us to the correct color space robot?” It was too clear cut for Lance to accept. It would have been just as easy for her to assign Pidge to the red lion, or even Shiro. Blue had called out to him specifically, but everyone else was just assigned. What would have happened if she got it wrong?

            “That is not how destiny works, Lance. You were destined to pilot Blue just as Keith was destined to pilot Red. That’s why you don’t have each other’s name. You are soulmates to each other, but also reincarnates of the original paladins.”  

            Lance shook his head, “That can’t be all to it, that’s too easy! I barely even made the cut to be a pilot and you’re telling me that I was always destined for it? And that the only reason why it even happened was because me and Keith-” He looked to Keith, and couldn’t read a single emotion from him. “Then what’s even the point of trying? O-Of anything if the universe will just sort it out how it wants to anyway?” Lance asked desperately.

            “Lance,” Keith tried, but to no avail.

            Lance brushed him off and stood up from the table. He needed to be alone.

✧✧✧

            Keith watched as Lance ran out of the dining room, “Lance!” He called out again, but he kept walking.

            He was about to chase after him when Coran cleared his throat again, regaining his attention. “I know that you want to follow him, but the story isn’t over yet.”

            Keith looked back to the exit and knew that Lance needed him, “Catch me up later.” Coran nodded at him and Keith made his way to Lance’s room. He pounded on the door with his fist, “Lance, it’s me, let me in.” He waited for the door open, but it remained closed. He pounded again, “I will break the door if I have to, open up!”

            The door opened with a _whoosh_ and Keith stepped in to see Lance, looking distraught and his bed crumpled. “What do you want, Keith?” he asked.

            “What do I want?” He exclaimed, “Lance, you just stormed out of dinner after having a mini-existential crisis about us.” His eyes softened and he tried to take a step closer to him, but Lance moved back.

            Keith moved his hand to his soulmark to send Lance concern but before he could make contact Lance let out a choked, “Don’t. Please, don’t”

            “Then talk to me.” Keith pleaded.  

            Lance looked up to the ceiling and crossed his arms over his chest, “How do we know this is real.” Keith could see his lip trembling, “What we’re doing, we don’t even have a choice. How do we know it’s real?”

            Keith shook his head and stepped close enough to Lance to gently pull his arms down, “Of course you had a choice. You told me you stated having feelings for me long before you knew that we’re soulmates.”

            Lance squeezed his eyes shut and Keith could see tears stating to form no matter how hard Lance was trying to hold them back, “No I know that, that’s not what I’m. I know how I feel about you is real.” He stopped, and opened to his eyes. His hand reached up to cup Keith’s cheek, “If I wasn’t your soulmate,” he tried but stopped again, “How could you possibly love me?” he finally asked.

            Keith felt his heart shatter for Lance, and he pulled him into his arms, “What are you talking about?”

            Lance collapsed into his arms and Keith had to use all his strength to keep the two of them from falling to ground, “I was always mean to you. I pushed that stupid rivalry for so long and if you didn’t know that we were soulmates, how would it be possible for you to be with me? You wouldn’t. You wouldn’t be able to love me.” Lance was crying into his shoulder by the end and Keith was lost for words.

            “Of course I would!” That was the easy thing about soulmarks, he could send Lance love whenever he felt like it and he never had to worry about wording it. “How could I not?”

            Lance’s reply was just hugging him harder and mumbling into his shoulder.

            He pulled Lance over to the small bed so that they could lie down. Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s middle, “You’re brave, and you act like a total ass but you’re actually kind and sweet and.” He pressed his forehead to Lance’s, “And I’m not any good with words but.” He put his hand on his soulmark, “Does that feel fake? Does that feel like the universe is forcing me into anything?”

            Lance opened his eyes and pressed his lips to Keith’s gently, “I love you.”

            “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all u were like "Oh are red and blue always soulmates?!" and yes you are all correct you are all now co-authors I'm not original it's finE. 
> 
> On a serious note, I know I'm kind of a faceless angst/smut-spewing machine, but if any of you need someone to talk to due to election results please please reach out to me. A few of you have reached out to me to ask if I'm okay and I can't thank you enough. Having someone to talk to is so important and I love our lil Voltron family so much so please if you need me, talk to me<3
> 
> Next week I have 3 (!!!) days off so I will absolutely be updating! Next chapter is probably gonna be smut though, so I'll have the warnings and page breaks.  
> I love all of you and thank you and I want to give you a million kisses <3 Have a great week everyone!!


	21. Legends

            “I know that you want to follow him, but the story isn’t over yet.”

            Shiro watched as Keith, just for a moment, contemplated staying to hear the rest of what Coran had to say. But before he even said anything, Shiro knew that he would forego the story to chase after Lance. He knew that Keith would follow him to the ends of the universe if he had to, it’s what love did to people. Shiro would know.

            “Catch me up later.” Keith bolted out of the room and Shiro smiled to himself. Keith had come so far from the sweet yet volatile freshman he met back at the Garrison all those years ago. Before Keith could barely say Lance’s name without sulking, and now he was running off to comfort him. It had been a long journey for him, but Keith was finally realizing that he was deserving of love, that he was deserving of his soulmate, and Shiro couldn’t be more proud of him for it.

            Everyone watched the space where Keith and Lance had run out of the room, not sure what to say. Of course Keith and Lance were the ones effected the most, but the discovery of them being soulmates and the subsequent fallout had its impact on the team as well. They were a family, and when one of them was hurting they all felt it.  

            “Do you think they’ll be okay?” Pidge asked softly.

            Shiro looked to Allura quickly. He thought about all the ways he loved her, and how much he would do for her. He tried to come up with any obstacle that would make them give up on each other, and he couldn’t think of a single one. He looked back to Pidge and with confidence said, “They’ll work through it. They can work through anything.”

             As if she had read his mind, Allura smiled at him and took hold of his hand under the table and gave it a tight squeeze.

            “Alright, gang! Are you ready to learn about your past lives?” Coran exclaimed.

            The room perked up, excited for the rest of the story. Coran told them all about the original Paladins, every last detail he could remember from when the story had been passed down to him ten-thousand and twenty years ago. He would often interrupt his own train of thought to bring up a detail he had left out from a different part of the story, making everyone laugh. Pidge had pulled out a notepad and was scribbling furiously to get as much detail as they possibly could.

            He started by telling them a little more about the first Red and Blue paladins, and how just like Keith and Lance, they fought constantly but love each other with a passion that inspired Altean art and lore for generations. Hunk and Pidge immediately laughed and vowed to get their hands on some of it somehow for blackmail.

            Coran told Hunk about the original Yellow Paladin, about how kind she was and how she, and every subsequent yellow paladin, loved to cook. Hunk’s eyes shined with delight when he heard that, “No one in my family loves to cook like I do, and they always say they have no idea where it came from!” he smiled, “It’s like learning about a whole family tree I never knew existed.”

            “Yeah except you’re every branch on the tree.” Pidge quipped. “Coran, can you tell me more about the seventh Green Paladin again? You said something that I think may contradict the personality of the fourth.” Shiro laughed, making Pidge narrow their eyes at him, “I’m serious! I hate inconsistencies, so I’m trying to sort through what’s true and what’s been added later.”

            Allura giggled, reveling in all of the stories, “Tell us more about the original Black Paladin, Coran. You’ve barely mentioned her.”

            Coran took on a more somber nature, “You picked up on that?” He chuckled to himself, “Of course you did, my clever girl.”

            Shiro suddenly felt unsettled. The stories thus far had all been happy, heroic tales. He hadn’t even noticed that his past lives had hardly been brought up. He had his own insecurities as the Black Paladin, but all of it was due to his struggle with his PTSD, nothing inherent about his personality that would be passed from lifetime to lifetime.

            Allura looked to Shiro and pursed her lips, then back to Coran, “What are you not telling us?”

            Coran steeped his fingers in front of his face and closed his eyes, “Much of the history of the Original Black Paladin, and all black paladins has been destroyed…purposely.”

            Shiro felt Allura’s grip on his hand tighten, “How come?” She demanded.

            “The Original Black Paladin and the King were…romantically involved. It was something that everyone knew, but out of respect for the Queen, it was never spoken of, even between the King and his adviser.”

            Shiro’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Why was the history of all black paladins destroyed? I understand sweeping a scandal under the rug and everything, but that seems a little excessive for one affair thousands of years ago.”

             “It wasn’t just one affair, was it?” Allura asked, deflated.

            Coran nodded, “At first it was thought to be an isolated incident, but overtime it became a pattern. It seemed that every ruler was falling in love with their Black Paladin. Theories formed after several generations, some people even began to think that they were soulmates. Eventually the kings or queens stopped telling their advisers about it and only passed it down to their heirs….”

            “Until my father told you.”

            “Yes. Allura, I am sorry I didn’t want to tell you like thi-”

            “Did he.” She paused, and looked down into her lap, “Did Father have an affair with… _him_.” The last word was spat out in disgust.

            “No, Allura. He loved your mother more than anything.”

            She stood up, “And then she passed away while Father still controlled Voltron for _years_. And _Zarkon._ ” Her fists crashed down to the table, making the silverware clatter. Shiro and the rest of the paladins were silent, too shocked to try and console their Princess.  

            Shiro stood up and put his hand at the small of her back, gently pressing to move her away from the table. He didn’t fully understand what Zarkon had to do with any of this, but he did understand that his girlfriend was distraught, “Come on, let’s go lay down.” Allura nodded and let Shiro guide her back to her room.

✧✧✧

            “Say it again.”

            “I love you.”

            “Again.”

            “I love you.”

            “One more time.”

            “Lance, I love you. Now let go.”

            Lance let go of Keith’s face and rolled back to his side of the bed. He would never ever get tired of hearing that. He was fairly confident he would spend the rest of his life asking Keith to say it a hundred times a day, a thousand.

            Keith rubbed his cheeks where Lance had been squeezing him and rolled his eyes, but was still smiling, “You’re crazy, you know that right?”

            Lance nodded and pressed his lips to Keith’s, “Yes, I am and you _love_ me anyway.” He snuggled back into Keith’s chest and placed another kiss to his collarbone, “And I love you.” Keith’s fingers started playing with his hair and he started to feel sleepy again.

            Before he could fall back asleep he heard, “Oh no you don’t, we’ve already spent the entire morning in bed. We need to get up eventually.”

            “I don’t want to.” Lance whined, “I want to stay in here, where there are no bad guys and you can keep your shirt off. Besides, it doesn’t look like morning to me.”

            Lance had taken down the curtains over his large window the same day Keith had told him about how much he loved the stars. Now from his tiny bed, they both could look out into the beautiful darkness. The castle was set for Altean time with automatic lights and clocks, but with the stars casting the only light into the room, time didn’t exist.

            “We’re due for a battle, Lance. We haven’t fought anything in almost six days, we are long overdue for something trying to kill us.”

            “Yeah but you don’t have to sound so excited about it.” Lance rolled over onto his back and stretched his legs out as far as he could, letting out a groan, “So what’s on the agenda for the day until our inevitable attack?”

            “We should talk to everyone, our exit was a little dramatic.”

            “I was _distressed_ , Keith.”

            Keith rolled on top of Lance, making his hair sweep across his face, “Yes, and then I came to your rescue and now you’re fine, so we need to let everyone know you’re fine.”

            Lance pushed his hair up and away from his face, “I could always repay my debt from that bet we made about Hunk.” He offered, licking his lips.

            Keith shut his eyes, shook his head and laughed, “Don’t tempt me.” Lance tried his puppy eyes, “That won’t work this time! Come on, at the very least we’re going to train. You’re behind and it’s obvious.”

            “You’re so romantic, babe.”

            Keith grinned at him, “Come on, let’s go see if one of us ends up pinned under the other like in your fantasy.”

            Lance shoved him off and sprinted from the bed to get dressed, making Keith roar with laughter from the bed. The day had barely begun, and Lance knew it was going to be a great day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beautiful babies, I'm so sorry this is late. To those who don't follow me on tumblr, my job has been very stressful lately due to a co-workers mom passing away and with Black Friday sine I'm in sales. I've had some personal stuff happening too, so this had to go on the back burner for two weeks.   
> As of now, I'm going to say Blueprints will be updating every other week-ish. Sometimes I'll be able to do the once a week, but sometimes not. I will do my best<3 
> 
> That being said, you have all been the most understanding and kind readers an author can ask for. I've seen how people can be, I've seen authors get overwhelmed with 'When are you updating' messages, and you have all been the opposite, checking in on me and telling me to take my time. I can't believe how lucky I am, and I'm beyond grateful. 
> 
> I was originally only going to write the top part, but I wanted some fluff with my boys!! There is going to be more with the past lives of the paladins! I'm happy that all of you were interested in it too :) 
> 
> Message me, be my friend etc. etc. I love you all so much<3


	22. Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***This chapter contains explicit sexual content***   
> (Sexual content is placed between page breaks)

            “Sloppy, do it again.”

            Lance rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time and went back to the starting position. Three days of this. Three days of taekwondo training at the crack of dawn. _Just_ training. Training sans any of the dry humping Lance had been promised. The first day, when Keith had said that they could train to act out Lance’s fantasies, he did not realize that Keith had actually intended on training.

            The entire session Lance was waiting for when Keith was literally going to sweep him off his feet. He assumed they were going to fake spar for five minutes, if Lance even managed that long, and then make out on the training deck, possibly more depending on how bold Keith felt. The thought was nearly too much to handle, making him run the entire way from his bedroom to the training deck, with a boner, just to get three days of;

            _‘Bad form, start over.’_

_‘You’re not even trying!’_

_‘Why are you so distracted today?’_

            Lance tried his best to remember the exact way to jab that always managed to catch Keith off guard, but taekwondo was the farthest thing from his mind. He brought his fist forward, but Keith evaded, brought his own leg up to kick, and got Lance right in his ribs.

            “Lance you’re actually getting worse this week, it’s like you’re trying to lose on purpose. What’s going on?”

            Lance deadpanned at his boyfriend and crossed his arms. Of course he was trying to lose on purpose! The first day he figured that Keith was keeping him on toes, building up the anticipation by not giving in. Now he had a feeling that Keith had just managed to trick him into being productive.

            When Lance only responded with a pout, Keith’s eyes narrowed slightly, “ _Are_ you trying to lose on purpose?”

            Lance blushed and threw his arms in the air, “Well, I’m not exactly focused after…”

            Keith’s eyebrow raised, “After what?”

            “After what we talked about in my room!” Lance somehow got even redder and looked away, “Never mind it’s stupid.”

            Keith’s brow furred for a moment and then his eyes went wide realization, “Oh!” he looked at Lance sheepishly, “I…completely forgot about that.”

            “How could you forget that, you quiznak?” Lance couldn’t believe it, his own boyfriend forgetting about potentially fooling around in a semi-public space.

            Keith laughed softly, “When I’m in here I get into the zone, taekwondo was always my escape from the world. It was the one thing as a kid that had repetition and stability. The Youth Center didn’t have trophies or anything like that, but when I advanced it always felt…good. Like I really accomplished something on my own.” He shrugged, “So I’m really good at tuning off my brain while training.” He smirked at Lance, “A little too good, apparently.”

            Any trace of frustration left Lance immediately and he pulled Keith into his arms to squeeze him as tight as he could. He remembered throughout childhood getting immense floods of pride through his soulmark every few months. He never knew why, but it had always made him smile. Especially with the amount of loneliness that sometimes came from his soulmate. The amount of loneliness that lived in Keith that Lance couldn’t even word. He had found an outlet for it, and decided to share it with him. “I love you.”

            Keith wrapped his arms around Lance tentatively, “I love you too. Why do you sound upset”

            Lance lowered his head to bury it into Keith’s shoulder, “This is really important to you and I was just worried about fooling around.” He touched his hip to more properly explain to Keith that he felt guilty for undermining something he loved.

            “Hey.” Keith said sternly as reassurance and love flowed through Lance’s body, “None of that. Believe me, I’m a big fan of the..." Keith paused, looking for the right words, "physical stuff. I just forgot.”

            Lance lifted his head back up and pressed his lips to Keith’s, “Look at us!” He said excitedly, “Talking about something instead of avoiding conflict for weeks on end!” He added with a grin.

            Keith rolled his eyes making Lance squeeze him tighter, “Go to starting position.” His tone was authoritative, which Lance knew was his ‘instructor’ voice signaling that it was time to get back to training.

            Lance let go of Keith and got ready. Before he could even think to move, Keith swept his leg out to knock Lance onto his back, “Hey! I thought we agreed no more sweeps since they’re not tournament lega-”

* * *

 

            Before Lance could finish his sentence, Keith was on top of him, pinning Lance to the floor and kissing his neck. Lance’s hips were writhing and Keith began to leave love bites on the small bit of exposed skin, “Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?”

            It wasn’t actually a question since they both knew the answer was nothing. Lance grinned and felt himself grow hard, just from a few love bites and Keith’s voice. Keith’s eyes were filled with lust, and Lance could already feel his erection through his jeans. His silence was answer enough.

            “Good boy.” Keith’s lips crashed down onto Lance’s and Lance let out a moan. They had already gotten to physically know each other very well, spending pretty much any downtime they had in Lance’s bedroom, more specifically in his bed.

            Lance knew that he could be lewd, but he was delighted to learn that Keith was equally, if not even more so sex-crazed than he was. He was especially delighted by how dominant Keith could be in bed. They liked to switch who was on top, but never in Lance’s wildest dreams would he expect Keith to be so good at taking charge; he also never expected how much he would love it.

            Keith had been biting on his neck, sucking the skin and Lance knew there would be a purple bruise there for several days. He should’ve cared, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Keith could leave seventeen hickies on his neck, and he would love every last one of them.

            Lance reached for the hem of Keith’s shirt and tugged it upwards, “Off.” He demanded.

            Keith smirked, and obliged, pulling his shirt above his head. His hands reached for Lance’s zipper. Lance helped shimmy his way out of his jeans and boxers, desperate to free his erection, “What do you want?” Keith whispered to him, biting down on his ear lobe.

            “Touch me.” Lance whined, thrusting his hips into the air. He ached for Keith’s touch, already dripping pre-cum. Keith wrapped his hand around the base of Lance’s cock and gave it a light squeeze. Lance reached up and kissed Keith deeply to stifle his loud moaning. Keith touching him was heaven, he would never get over how perfect he felt.

            Keith moved his hand up and down Lance’s shaft and Lance had to concentrate on not losing control before they even really started. His eyes were screwed shut and he got lost in the pleasure. Keith’s hand found his soulmark and Lance’s pleasure was doubled, and he felt all the love and passion Keith was feeling flood through him like it was his own blood. More intimate than Lance could imagine, he started murmuring “I love you” over and over again to Keith without even realizing.

            Suddenly Keith’s touch was gone, making Lance stir in upset. Before he could ask why he stopped, Keith was back on top of him, pants throw to the side of the training deck. Keith rubbed his erection against Lance’s and the boy nearly saw stars. Their soulmarks were brushing as Lance continued to move his hips to grind against Keith.

            Keith had him pinned to the floor with his body weight and Lance felt fully enveloped by his lover, like he could drown in Keith if the universe would let him. The intimacy of their bodies rubbing together with the thrill of potentially getting caught made it hands down the most erotic experience of Lance’s life. He and Keith had been physically affectionate in the past few weeks, but this was different. This was exciting and _dirty_ and he would never get enough.

              Lance felt his lower abdomen begin to tighten and knew he was getting close to orgasm. He was going to try to last longer but Keith lowered his face to Lance’s ear and whispered, “Don’t hold back, come for me, sweetheart.” Lance came without hesitation at the words, seeing stars as he released all over Keith.  Keith followed immediately after and collapsed to the floor next to Lance. Both of them were breathing heavy as Keith pulled Lance into his arms.

* * *

 

            Lance chuckled and spotted Keith’s chest with kisses, “We are never gonna be able to look at this place the same way again.”

            Keith joined him in laughter as his fingers began to play with Lance’s hair, “You’re going to have to keep a straight face every time we do group training. Think you can do it?”

            “Nothing about me is straight, babe, it’s an impossible task.” Lance didn’t have to see Keith’s face to know he was rolling his eyes.

            “You thought you were straight your whole life until about, what? A month ago?”

            “Irrelevant!” Lance muffled into his chest. “I saw your booty and became a new man.”

            “You’re ridiculous.” Despite his words, Keith’s voice held only affection.

            Lance nodded against his chest, overflowing with happiness. No one in the world had the right to be as happy as he felt in this moment; naked in the middle of a glorified gymnasium, intertwined with his soulmate. “Can we go to our room? I want to cuddle and I don’t think anyone would appreciate walking in on us like this.”

            “Oh, so _now_ you care about someone walking in?” Keith chided. He stood up and held out his hand to help Lance up, “By the way…I like the sound of that.”

            Lance took his hand, stood up, and cocked his head, “Sound of what?”

            Keith’s cheeks turned pink and he brought the back of Lance’s hand to his lips, “Our room.” He said, and then placed a kiss on his knuckles.

            Lance smiled and nodded, “Let’s go pack up the rest of your stuff and make it official.” He was wrong about no one in the world being as happy as him, no one in the universe could even come close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah my loves!! Thank you so much for your patience with this chapter! Connor read it for me and said that this is his favorite by far which makes me happy since I spent a long time writing it :')   
> LIFE UPDATE: Work has been insane as ever, but Big News I got my driver's license!! I'm 23 so I was super behind and it was a big life hindrance for me but I did it! I'm also part of a bridal party now so my [infrequent] off days have been full of adulting.   
> I've already hand-written a lot of the next upcoming chapters so I *hope* there won't be another two week delay. I will do my best. 
> 
> You all continue to be the kindest, most understanding, and lovely readers an author could ever ask for. I love you SO MUCH and your comments always swell my heart. I'm so lucky <3   
> (Also I just read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and y'all should check it out, it's a masterpiece)


	23. Buckle Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the release of the new season, aspects of this story are no longer aligned with the Voltron cannon. Since I created and outlined this story before season 2 aired, it's going to continue as is. A more detailed note will follow at the end of the chapter.

            Allura took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. She, once again, began to read over the dozen or so screens she had managed to dig up over the past week. A dozen files out of thousands, but she was happy to have even that. She was standing in front of the large console from the archive room, and the amount of projections she had open at once was starting to make her head spin. It had taken a lot of digging, and a lot of decrypting, but she finally was on the right path - she had to be.

             Her hands waved frantically, bringing different screens into focus. She was close to finding it; she had no idea what _it_ was exactly, but she knew she was onto something big. Someone, and she wasn’t sure if it was her father or Coran or someone else entirely, was trying to hide something from her, and she’d be damned if she couldn’t find it. Whoever hid the information she was looking for had prepared for nearly everything; but it was impossible to plan for Allura’s lethal combination of determination and stubbornness.

             Something wasn’t adding up in Coran’s story. When he had revealed that the Black Paladin and the Leader of Voltron were soulmates, she began doing her own investigation. She was positive that if Zarkon had been her father’s soulmate it somehow would have been brought up. Even if it was Zarkon rubbing salt in the wound during battle, it would’ve slipped out somewhere. She knew her father and he wouldn’t have been able to look at Zarkon that way if he had loved him, for even just a minute. The hatred still would have been there, but so would heartbreak. She knew. She was her father’s daughter after all, and she could not think of a single thing in the universe that would make her look at Shiro the way her father looked at Zarkon.

            The Royal Archives were where Allura would go for solace; her last true piece of home.  Now it was the last thing standing between her and the truth. She’d tear it all down if she had to.

             She felt strange at first, going through her people’s history to potentially uncover a lie, but that feeling quickly vanished when she had gotten proof that she was right all along. There was an important piece of the story that was missing. There were five years missing in archival data; five years between her grandmother’s last day as leader and her father’s first.

            When she first found it, she thought it had just been a clerical error, the system was thousands of years old after all. Then she tried to enter the missing dates manually and all of the screens vanished and the console went dark. She had tried the process two more times and knew that it wasn’t a glitch; the system was set to automatically shut down if anyone tried to access those files.

            After accepting that she had to find another way, she brought up as much information about her grandmother’s reign as she could. She just needed one piece of information, just one, to prove that monster wasn’t cosmically bound to her father. That her father and their entire people perished protecting them from his own soulmate. The only information she did manage to find was about her paternal-grandmother and her marriage to her grandfather, one of the few public instances of a ruler and black paladin marrying. The footage was breathtaking, she remembered watching it with her parents when she was a little girl. She could see the love between them, but she never would have imagined that they were [honest-to-god] soulmates.

            She also watched the footage of her father’s coronation, a tremendous occasion since Altea was a matriarchal society. He was the first male ruler in 300 years. Some Alteans were worried about his ability to guide Voltron, but he more than proved his capabilities. She was proud of him every day, even if her and Coran would be the only ones to remember his sacrifice.

            The sound of a door opening made Allura wipe the screens away in a hurry. Her pulse skyrocketed, but dropped back down when she realized it was only Pidge entering the room. She let out a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness it’s you! I thought you might have been Coran searching for me.”

            Pidge’s eyes gleamed as they approached the console, absolutely ready to join in on whatever mischief was occurring “Oh ho, are we hiding something from Coran?”

            Allura grinned, absolutely thrilled to have an accomplice, “Not necessarily. More like trying to find what Coran is hiding.”

            “Even better!” Pidge cracked their knuckles and gestured for Allura to continue what she was doing before they had entered.

            She brought the screens back up into view with pride and saw Pidge deflate slightly, “What’s wrong?”

            “These are just…news articles.” Pidge’s voice was a mix of confusion and disappointment as they brought different screens into focus, skimming the contents of each one.

            “Yes, and no.” Allura brought forward the search screen for the archives, “Watch this.” She entered the same dates she had tried before and watched as, once again the screens vanished and system shutdown.

            Pidge smirked, the evil twinkle in their eye returning. “I’m assuming you’ve had this problem more than once?”

            Allura nodded. “This is the third time. Something is hidden in those dates that even I, as Princess and future ruler don’t have access to. I should have absolute clearance on all archival data, and yet…” She gestured to the still dark console.

            “This is different than not having security clearance though. If that were the case it just wouldn’t let you see them, it wouldn’t make the entire computer crash.” Pidge waited for the system to start back up again and turned to Allura, “Would you be able to bring up the files you found again?”

            “Of course, but I’ve already gone through all the data quite extensively. Nothing seems to be of any use.” Allura typed frantically into the console and brought them back into view. “There is something missing, but what _is_ here is entirely normal.”

            “We’ll see about that. Buckle up, Princess. This could take a while.”

✧✧✧

            “I have _one_ more question, okay? Just one more.”

            Keith doubted that. It had been one more question about six questions ago. Not that he cared, of course. Lance could ask him questions for three hours straight, as long as he kept looking at him like _that._ With eyes as bright as his smile and like Keith had put every the star in the sky; like Keith meant more than anything to him.

            They were in their room, a thought that still made Keith’s heart skip a beat. It had only been a week and the small space they shared had already entirely transformed from Lance’s room to _their_ room. They were in their room, and Lance had insisted on a day of pampering since they had an intense battle the day before.

            The battle wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary; a Robeast tried to prevent them from liberating innocent people, the team formed Voltron, Lance and Keith managed to fight and flirt at the same time, Hunk almost puked, and Shiro convinced everyone to get their shit together in the nick of time. An absolutely normal Wednesday.

            Yet Lance had insisted that Keith put this stupid gunk on his face and tie his hair up in a towel, a perfect mirror to himself, so that they could relax together. Keith felt more embarrassed than relaxed, but if it made Lance happy, he’d “detoxify his pores” forever, whatever the hell that meant. And from the look on Lance’s face, Keith could tell that the small gesture made him ecstatic.

            “Okay, go ahead.”

            They were sitting across from each other on their bed, both cross-legged with their knees touching, with Keith propped up against the pillows. Keith leaned forward to rest his head against Lance’s, suddenly not satisfied with the minimal physical contact.

            “Hey! Our masks aren’t dry yet!” Lance fell back dramatically to get away from Keith, but as soon as his back made contact with the mattress, he held out both of his hands for him to grab. Keith smiled tenderly and tugged Lance back up to a sitting position. He could see a tiny smudge on Lance’s forehead which made his small smile turn into a grin.

            “What’s your question, drama queen?” He asked, his voice overflowing with love.

            Lance squeezed his hands, “You don’t have to answer this one if you don’t want…which I know I said about the last three questions but,” Lance took a deep breath and tilted his head, “So you’re gay.”

            Keith chuckled, “Yes, we went over that already.”

            Lance shook their intertwined hands lightly, “Did you always know you were gay? Because I thought I was straight for, like, my _entire_ life and then…” Lance waggled his eyebrows, “Your butt in those pants made me realize that I’m definitely _not_ straight, but I also know I’m not gay since I’m still attracted to girls.”

            Keith thought about it for a second, “I guess I always knew. Even as a little kid before I knew what gay meant, I knew that my soulmate would be a boy. Why?”

            Lance shrugged, “I dunno. It’s just weird I guess. Like why would the universe make me bi if you’re my soulmate? What’s the point?”

            “Lance, you being bi is a good thing, it’s a part of who you are.” Keith detached their hands to touch his soulmark, he wanted Lance to know how genuinely proud and happy he was about Lance’s orientation.

            “That’s straight out of a Pride Alliance pamphlet.” He deadpanned.

            Keith squeezed his hands, “I’m being serious. And yes it is.” They laughed together briefly, and Keith continued, “I love you, and soulmates don’t define who you are. You’re bisexual and soulmates with a guy, those aren’t mutually exclusive. Besides, you never know what could happen in the future.”

            Lance jerked his hands away and pouted, “Soulmates don’t tend to breakup, but thanks for the vote of confidence on our future there, Keith.”

            Keith’s brow furrowed, “I didn’t mean us breaking up, Lance. I meant.” Keith looked away, not able to say it while looking at him, “I meant that if…I don’t make it out there,” He gestured to the window, “I want you to be happy and find someone else.”

            Before he could say another word, Lance was on top of him, squishing him down into the pillows, “How could you say that to me, I love you so much don’t ever think that I could be with anyone but you, you idiot! I will protect you and you will be safe and we’re going to go back to Earth and you’re going to meet my family and you’re gonna be my boyfriend forever and I’m gonna hold your stupid hand until we turn a hundred. Do you understand me?”

            Keith was amazed that one human could speak so long without taking a single breath. He chuckled slightly and brought his hand up to the back of Lance’s head to rub his hair, “Okay.”

            Lance sat back up, his mask was completely smudged off his face, most of it residing on Keith’s shirt. He sniffled and looked up at Keith with watered eyes. “Okay he says!” Lance exclaimed. “You’re not getting it.” To drive his point home, Lance touched his soulmark and Keith felt pure love blossom from his hip.

            Keith had felt love from Lance his entire life. He remembered feeling the innocent joyful love from him as children, the lustful love of adolescence, excited love, scared love when Lance had almost died. He had felt grateful love when things were going bad and passionate love when things were going right. For so long those feelings were from an anonymous boy, then from the boy he hated who transformed into the boy he loved in secret. And then his Lance. Keith never would have dreamed that he would be so lucky as to feel such unconditional love. He thought that by now it wouldn’t still take his breath away, but he was wrong.

            “You feel that? I won’t _ever_ feel like for anyone except you.”

            “Get this stupid thing off my face so I can actually hold you.”

 

               

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY FUCK YOU GUYS CAN WE TALK ABOUT SEASON 2  
> I'm NOT okay and wow just. two bros sitting in a hot tub five feet apart cuz they're not gay is the only thing that exists in my brain anymore. 
> 
> Also yes hello it's been a month I'm so sorry. This was going to be two separate chapters, but you get both because all of you have been the most kind and understanding readers in the known universe. Honestly, you're amazing and in any other fandom I'd be having a meltdown probably. 
> 
> I outlined Blueprints way back in July and have a very specific image of what it is, so I'm keeping my Original Paladin lore. There are also other aspects of the plot yet to be revealed that don't match up with cannon, but again, it's an alternate universe to begin with so. wheeeee. 
> 
> please please come message me on tumblr so I can talk about this season. I binge watched the entire thing in one day. I have a lot of feelings.
> 
> ALSO I keep seeing posts on tumblr about Jeremy Shada reading fanfiction? Someone needs to explain this to me, because if it's real...I'm going to throw my laptop off a cliff.


	24. Blackout

            “Prorok, do you know why I brought you here?”

            Prorok remained kneeling in front of Zarkon, his gaze cast down with his hand crossed over his chest. His could feel his heart beating though his uniform. The summons to Zarkon’s command hull was a surprise, especially alone in the middle of the night, but in retrospect he should’ve known better. Rumors were circulating the entire fleet, they had been for a while now. Thace had told him that something big was brewing, but no one knew exactly what was planned. No one had known who the victim was going to be this time either, and Prorok was not entirely surprised to discover it was, in fact, himself.

            Zarkon had failed to capture Voltron, again. Each time he failed, it only made his hunger for victory stronger. Haggar’s Robeasts always got close, closer each time. But close meant nothing to Zarkon. He was starting to get irritated with Haggar, and it was evident to all. She had been brooding around the ship the past few weeks, not working on a new beast. Only one soldier was idiotic enough to try and ask her why she wasn’t by Zarkon’s side planning the next attack and he was never heard from again. People stopped asking after that, but it didn’t stop anyone from making their own observations.

            Some people thought that maybe he would finally be giving up on Voltron. Re-focusing on making his own weapon, as countless advisors had suggested. Prorok knew better. Zarkon was obsessed with Voltron, and he suspected that he would rather die before giving up on getting his hands on at least one of the lions.

            Zarkon’s obsessive nature combined with his ruthlessness was what enabled him to conquer more than half the galaxy, but those who saw him up close knew how unstable he was on a day to day basis. Prorok knew that this meeting was inevitable. Zarkon had been too calm lately; no one had gotten killed in ages. It was the calm before the storm.

            “No, sire. All I was told is that you required my services.”

            Zarkon smiled maliciously, sending a shiver down Prorok’s spine. “Yes. I’ve had the personal realization that my judgment has been…somewhat clouded regarding Voltron. You’re going to help me with something new.”

            Prorok felt a surge of hope. “What do you need of me, sire? I will do anything to help you and the growth of the Galran Empire.

            “I was hoping you would say just that.” Zarkon pulled a small data transmitter from his cloak and tossed it in front of Prorok. “This has everything you will need. Do not show this to anyone. Do not extract the files until you’re on your ship. Do you understand?”

            Prorok picked up the small piece of machinery. He knew the device seemed innocuous, but in the palm of his hand he held the future of the Galran Empire. He held his future too, eternal glory to Zarkon if he succeeded. Or eternal shame if he failed. He would not fail. “Yes, sire. I understand.”

            “Good. You are to leave immediately.”

            Prorok’s stomach dropped, “Sire I-”

            Zarkon held up a hand immediately silencing him, “A pod is already prepared with everything you will need. Unless if you have a better plan?”

            “Of course not.” His response was quick, he was not a fool.

            “Excellent. I’ll have you escorted to the hangar.” Prorok, filled with both dread and excitement, stood up and bowed his head before turning around to leave. He had only managed to make it a few feet before he heard, “Oh, and Prorok, one more thing.”

            Prorok stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to address Zarkon. His tone was casual, which only meant that he was preparing to dig the knife deeper. Zarkon exuded power even when his expression was neutral. He was truly something to behold. “Yes, sire?”

            “Do mind, this is a retrieval mission. If any harm comes to the target, I will ensure a torture so severe, that death would be a mercy for you.” Prorok felt all the color drain from his face and his legs nearly gave out, knowing the sincerity of those words. He nodded and Zarkon motioned for him to continue his way out the door. He would not fail.

✧✧✧

 

            Pidge was at their breaking point. Their eyes stung with lack of sleep. Their head pulsated. Their fingers cramped. They couldn’t remember another time where every part of their body ached like this. And it was all for nothing.

            Nothing! Pidge hadn’t found a single useful or informative thing after hours of digging. Every time they got close to something, the system either shut down, or the files were depleted. They had been able to fully decrypt one rabbit hole full of files, and the trail just lead to a stinking birth announcement from forty years ago. It had taken Pidge six hours and all they got was a newspaper clipping ‘ _Queen Happy to Announce Birth of Beautiful Twins!’_

            Allura had fallen asleep an hour ago, and was starting to drool so much, Pidge was honestly worried she was about to cause some irrevocable water-damage to the console. They allowed their head to fall down to the desk with a loud _thunk_ making Allura shoot up in surprise, “I’m awake! I’m awake…Pidge?” Allura hand softly patted the back of Pidge’s head, trying to get them to sit up, “Are you alright?”

            “Allura, this is beyond even my capabilities. I’ve been at this forever and I only got a useless newspaper clipping.” Pidge brought the file up to the screen with shame.

            “Pidge, don’t be disappointed in yourself! You managed to get something that even I couldn’t…wait just a tick.” Allura stood up and brought her face closer to the screen. “Zoom in on this!” She demanded.

            Pidge raised their eyebrows, “You got it, Princess.” They said with sarcasm.

            “I will apologize later, just for now do as I say. Zoom in on the article.”

            Allura was using her Commander Voice, making Pidge let go of the passive aggressiveness. They had thought that this article was just a left behind scrap from something more important. So useless, that even who had wiped the files didn’t even bother to go back and take care of the oversight. By the way Allura’s eyes grew wider and wider as she read, Pidge had a feeling that they had been mistaken.  “Allura, what’s going on?”

            Allura pointed frantically to the two smiling babies in the queen’s arms, one swaddled in a pink blanket and the other in blue “That infant is my father! That is my grandmother holding _two-_ ” She stopped short and brought both of her hands up to her face.

            “ _Allura,”_ Pidge said with force, “Snap out of it and tell me what’s going on!”

            Allura once again pointed to the baby on the left, in the blue blanket “That is my father, that is Alfor. _King_ Alfor!”

            Pidge nodded, “Yeah? And the older woman is your grandma and the other baby is your aunt? So?!”

            “I do not have an aunt, Pidge. My father is an only child…Altea is a matriarchal society. If I had an aunt, she would be Queen. The crown is only passed to a male heir if there are no female offspring.”

            “Well, I mean maybe something happened to her as a baby and they didn’t want to tell you?” Pidge tried, but even they knew that was a reach.

            “There would be no reason to keep that a secret! Why would they lie…I don’t. All of Altea couldn’t possibly not know. I don’t understand….unless.”  Allura peered closer, “What is that?” She asked quietly, “Pidge, can you zoom in anymore?”    

            “I can, but I think the article would go out of focus if I did.”

            “It’s not the words I’m looking it. It’s the picture.”

            Pidge zoomed in, and Allura moved the screen so that the baby on the right took up the focus. Allura gasped and Pidge felt their stomach flip.

            On the baby’s cheek was a black paw print.

            “I thought that Alteans didn’t have soulmarks.” Pidge said in disbelief.

            “So did I. I also thought that Alteans didn’t have soulmates at and that my father was an only child. Many things I thought were true are being disproven.” Allura didn’t sound angry or upset; she sounded defeated and Pidge didn’t know what to do.

            “Let’s…Let’s go find Coran and see if he-”

            “No.”

            “N-no?”

            For a moment Allura had tears welling in her eyes, but she blinked slowly and they were gone, replaced with hard ferocity, “Right now, I need to process this and I don’t…I do not know if I trust Coran right now.” Before Pidge could say anything, the console turned off and the lights went out in the room.

            Allura swore quietly and went to the console, “Blasted thing must have turned itself off again.”

            “I don’t know Allura,” Pidge began typing in the commands to get the system running again, but nothing worked, “The lights didn’t go any of the other times…this seems different.”

            “I’ll go to the main command and try to get the lights on there.” Allura walked over to the door and it did not open. She placed her hand on the manual opener, and it still remained closed. Pidge felt dread creep into their tummy as Allura tried to pry the door open. She only managed to crack it open a hairs-width before she had to let it go and it snapped shut again.

            Pidge reached up to their communicator and turned it on, but was met with only static. Allura must have done the same, since her eyes were filled with panic now as well. She rushed over to the console and typed frantically “Something’s interfering with the ship’s mainframe! I don’t have access to anything-”

            She was cut off by a loud crash. Allura and Pidge both momentarily lost their footing as the castle shook. They looked at each other briefly before running to the door, and began pounding against the metal desperately, hoping that anyone was awake to hear them.  

✧✧✧

            “What the quiznak was that?!” Lance exclaimed. He, Keith, and Hunk had just left the kitchen after getting a midnight snack, when the lights went out and they felt the crash.

            Keith reached for Lance’s hand to help calm him down, “It could have just been a meteor for all we know. No reason to freak out, let’s go check it out.”

            Hunk shook his head, “I don’t think so Keith. That wouldn’t make the lights go out _after_ a crash. I have a bad feeling in my gut.”

            “Hunk’s gut is always right!” Lance exclaimed squeezing Keith’s hand.

            Hunk nodded solemnly, “It’s true. It’s a blessing and a curse.” His hand reached up to his ear and he recoiled a second later, “Communicators are down.” He walked back towards the kitchen and tried to get the door open, “Aaand access to anywhere is out of question. Great.” He deflated slightly, “Alright, you two go investigate and I’ll try to find the others. That’s what we get for enjoying ourselves for five minutes.” He said sarcastically. He slowly reached out for the wall, and said “Okay, slowly but surely, Garrett. If I don’t find the others, I’ll go back to the crash to help you guys.”

            “Be careful, buddy. Don’t bump into anything.” Lance was nervous and didn’t like the idea of splitting up but knew it was a necessary evil. They needed to find Pidge and Shiro, and the sooner the better.

            Lance squeezed Keith’s hand, “Let’s go.”

            Keith dashed toward the crash with no hesitation, Lance stumbling behind him, “Keep up!”

            “How the hell are you moving so fast in the dark?” Lance could barely see a thing and Keith was leading him perfectly around every turn.

            All Keith said was, “I can see fine.”

             Lance’s stomach dropped, he didn’t know what was going on but he didn’t like it. He didn’t have his Bayard, their communicators were down, and none of the doors were opening which meant that they had no way of getting to their lions, and the Dysfunctional Duo of Voltron was charging fast into danger.

            “What the hell is tha- Lance!” Keith suddenly pushed Lance as hard as he could, sending him flying several feet away. He couldn’t see anything, but he heard Keith grunting, and the sound of him fighting someone. “Lance! Get out of here it’s a Galran soldi-” Keith stopped talking to let out a groan, and Lance heard his body collapse to the ground.

            “Keith!” He saw the reflection of something shiny in the darkness and before he could think of what he was doing, he lunged for it. Knocking into whatever it was that knocked Keith out, “If you hurt him, I swear to God I’ll kill you!” Lance’s brain tried desperately to remember any taekwondo, but between the adrenaline and darkness, he could only manage to hopelessly flail his fists in the direction of the assailant.

            He heard a slight chuckle before something hit the back of his head, making him blackout.       

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Way back when I outlined this story, this was supposed to be chapter 11. So, yeah. 
> 
> Hello babies!!! Thank you (again) for your patience and kindness<3 Last chapter put this story at 6k kudos and I....I made a [tumblr post](http://underthesilentstars.tumblr.com/post/156611192763/blueprints-officially-passed-6000-kudos-and-im) about it. It was emotional I cried a lot. 
> 
> I love all of you, some of you guys leave such beautiful comments and I want to print them out and carry them around to read when I'm sad because you're all so nice and believe in me and I feel like my author's notes are always just me gushing how much I love you?? 
> 
> Anyway, this is painful I'm sorry. Star vs the Forces of Evil season 2 just ended and like. everyone is separated. Everything is filled with pain. I have a VACATION coming up from work in like 2 weeks!!!! SO I am going to try my best to write a lot then because we are getting close to the end of my lil story here <3 I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I love you a lot!


	25. Plan of Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter contains graphic depiction of torture, discretion is advised*

            Lance knew he was in trouble. When he finally came to, Keith’s emotions registered before his own; fear, anguish, regret, and above all, worry. The concoction swirled in his belly, making him nauseous before he could even open his eyes. He knew he was just waking up, but he didn’t remember falling asleep, especially somewhere so cold.  

            It hit him all at once. Finally fully conscious, his eyes popped open while the anxiety brimming inside him began to overflow. He was clearly in some kind of cell, but it was too dark to see past his immediate surroundings or the bars. He was awkwardly bound; arms crossed at the front of his body, instead of behind. The chains were connected behind his back, and were flush against his torso leaving them completely immobile. His legs weren’t bound which he was grateful for, but his arms were completely stuck against his body.

            He stood up, and immediately felt like his head had been split open. If he could touch his head he wouldn’t have been surprised to find it damp and warm with blood. He knew that between the dizziness and nausea he had to be concussed, making him fight to keep his eyes open despite their growing heaviness.

            He didn’t care about his own agony though, that was second. It would always would be second. “Keith!” He called out into the darkness. He only waited a second before trying again, “Keith! Are you there!? Answer me!” He managed to get himself standing after nearly collapsing, to go as close to the bars as he could, “Keith!” He tried to move his hands to steady himself at all, but the strange bonds confining his arms kept them pressed into his side.  

            A figure approached from the shadows, lips twisted up with menacingly glee, “Your lover is not here.” It was said by a slow drawl that stabbed Lance in the heart with each syllable. He would know that voice anywhere.

            “Haggar! Where is Kei-” Before he could finish he statement he was screaming in agony. Haggar’s fingertips emitted a single bolt of purple that embedded itself in Lance’s shoulder. He fell to his knees and groaned. He started to take long labored breaths, resisting the urge to pass out. He fell onto his side, unable to support himself on his hands.  He had to stay awake, he had to get out of here. He stared at Haggar’s feet, the only part of her he could see, and tried to stay focused. As long as he was consciously focusing on something, he could stay awake. He could get up. He could find Keith. Haggar began cackling and recharging the magic in her fingertips. He didn’t understand why she would bother torturing him if he was already tied up, and hadn’t tried to extort any information from him. Then he felt Keith.

            Lance’s heart seized up and he looked down to his restrains and saw that his wrist was flush against his hip, right over his red pawprint. A small piece of his shirt had been cut away and his restrains gave no slack.

            Never in life had Lance felt such despair come from his soulmark. He knew the kind of hell Keith had been through, and thought that he had already felt his deepest helplessness. Those times didn’t even come close to what Keith was feeling now.

            Lance inhaled sharply and began to erratically twist his arm, desperate to move his wrist away from his hip. He heard Haggar laugh at his attempts and was certain that he was causing his wrists to bruise against the restraints. He didn’t care, he had to find a way to stop touching his soulmark. He knew he wasn’t getting out anytime soon, and he couldn’t subject Keith to whatever Haggar had planned for him.

            “It’s no use, Paladin.” She said, light once again emitting from her fingers. “Those restraints were custom made just for you and your,” She stopped, allowing her lightning to hit him again, directly in the abdomen, “unique situation.”

            By the end of her statement Lance couldn’t even hear her. He was on the floor moaning, trying to not throw up from the pain. His eyes screwed shut and he tried with everything he had to fight through the pain send some kind of comfort to Keith but he was so tired. Too tired to move or think or truly register the amount of pain he was in.

            He felt a whirlwind from Keith; helplessness, guilt, concern, anger, so much anger. Keith was that amount of anger wasn’t good, it made him rash. It made him rush into things with no plan. It would make Keith come after him alone. Lance set him love, the only thing he could muster and hoped that it would be enough to remind him of his favorite mantra; ‘patience yields focus’

            “Sleep now, Earthling. I’m sure this was more than enough to make your soulmate come to your rescue.” She turned to leave him, “But let us be certain, shall we?” Haggar sent a bolt of lightning, brighter and even larger than the previous two right into his already open wound. Lance tried to scream but could only manage a grunt. He wanted nothing more to get up and fight, or at the very least stay awake for Keith, but his body couldn’t fight off the exhaustion much longer.

            “I wonder what the little halfling will feel now, relief to not feel your pain or fear that we’ve killed you. I guess we’ll find out.” Haggar taunted, and Lance’s eyes finally fluttered closed.

✧✧✧

 

            “Keith, I need you to calm down.”

            “Shiro, I can’t feel him anymore. I can’t. He’s gone. what if they.” No. He couldn’t think that. He wouldn’t let himself even think it for a second. “I’m leaving. I’m going to find him right now.”

            “That’s exactly what Zarkon wants!” Allura was past consoling him. The past half hour had been a nightmare and she didn’t have the patience to be kind any longer.

            “Then I guess it’s his lucky day!” Keith shouted at her.

            Keith had woken up in the healing pod an hour earlier and right away knew something was wrong. His eyes had opened to his team’s faces behind a pane of glass. They were all there, except for one.

            The cyropod opened and Shiro held out his arm to catch Keith. Keith was praying harder than he ever had that Lance was just in his room sleeping, not willing to let anything, even a break-in, ruin his sleeping routine. Hunk’s watering eyes made that hope diminish quickly.

            He looked up at Shiro, still clutching his arm, “Lance?”

            Shiro shook his head and Keith stood up, letting go of Shiro before he should have, but too prideful to admit it. Woozy, he took a deep breath and looked to Allura, “So what’s our rescue plan?”

            They had barely begun coming up with battle strategies when Keith started to feel Lance. It was weak, mostly confusion tinged with fear, but Keith was overjoyed that he could feel Lance at all. He didn’t want to think it, but he was happy that Lance was alive somewhere.

            Then the pain started.  

            Keith couldn’t even register what emotion was coming through his soulmark, he could only feel an intense burning on his hip, as if someone was jabbing him with a hot poker directly where his blue mark was. The initial shock stopped and eventually he was able to realize that Lance was in agony.  His entire world stopped. His Lance, his baby, was going through the unimaginable while he was safe and sound.

            Keith lifted up his shirt and examined his soulmark, half expecting some indication of pain to appear. Of course there was nothing, and his hand immediately went to it, trying to solace Lance, send him any emotion at all, trying to let him know he was there. Anything,

            “Keith?” Allura asked him tentatively, clearly able to see his panic.

            “He’s in pain. He’s in danger we have to go.”

            Which had led to the half hour debate of going to rescue Lance immediately versus making a strategy to infiltrate Zarkon’s main fleet. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement for the latter, but Keith was the only who was able to feel exactly what Lance was going through. He was the only one who knew that they didn’t have much time. He was already borderline hysterical, and when he stopped feeling Lance he knew he was going after Zarkon immediately, no matter what the others said.

            Shiro had tried to grab him, tried soothing him the best he could but Keith was determined. He didn’t care if he wound up going alone, he was going.

            As if Pidge had read his mind, they rested a hand on his shoulder and pulled him down to look them in the eye, “Keith I will figure out the best plan of attack. We all love Lance, and we need to be logical if we want the best chance of getting him home. Do you understand?”

            Keith deflated slightly and put his hand on top on Pidge’s, “I understand. I think I’m going to lay down in my room for a little while. Rest before we figure out what to do next.”

            His team nodded, all looking at him with sad eyes. Of course they would understand that he would need rest after the emotion turmoil. Which he would have appreciated more if he were actually going to his and Lance’s bedroom.

            As soon as he was certain no one was following him, he made a sharp turn for Red’s hangar. He placed his hand on his hip, and even though he knew Lance couldn’t feel him he said, “Don’t worry, Lance, I’m coming for you.”

             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Babies I am Tired life has been insane. 
> 
> I love this chapter and I cried about six times while writing it so I hope you love it. More to come, it's almost over!  
> Thank you for your beautiful words and kindness, as always I humbled by every single one of you and please come hang out with me via social media.


	26. Firing Shot

       Keith started his rescue mission the way he had started everything in his life; with nothing but a half-assed plan and determination. He burst out of Red’s hangar and took off into a random direction, hoping that his intuition would be right. It hadn’t failed him yet, but he supposed that there was a first time for everything. He just had to pray this wouldn’t be it. Either way, he didn’t have much of a choice.

             Keith was unsurprised to find that Red could immediately tell something was wrong with her Paladin. The second that he had landed in the pilot seat, she let him know that she knew something was up and that there was no point in trying to hide it. Keith had to deal with Red being temperamental, even on their best days. He didn’t know what to expect now. He pet the console lightly, “Relax, Kitty. I have a plan.” Red wasn’t convinced though, and if Keith were to be honest with himself, neither was he.

            Keith knew that he had to get away from the castle before he began anything. It would only be a matter of time before Allura noticed one of the hangars was empty and would send the team into panic mode. He already had his communicator off for that reason, not willing to listen to his team tell him what a bad idea charging in to Zarkon’s main fleet alone was. He wasn’t stupid, of course he knew it was an awful idea. He had minimal chance of survival but Lance was worth the risk.

             Keith was slightly offended that everyone, especially Shiro, didn’t realized that he would not be going to his bedroom as he said while his soulmate was in peril. Keith knew that it was him being petty, but he thought his team would know him better than that. He would never be able to sit idly by; he would tear apart the universe if he had to. In Keith’s mind he had given them the opportunity to try to stop him already, not that it would have worked. Still, he didn’t want to even give them the opportunity to rationalize with him about going alone. It would have been challenging to stop him before he left, but now that he felt like he was at least a little closer to finding Lance, it was impossible. So there was no point in keeping the damn communicator on anyway. He had more pressing matters to deal with.  

            Keith took a deep breath and put his hand on his soulmark. Lance was still unresponsive, but he needed to keep the connection open, if just for his own sanity. Maybe Lance couldn’t respond but he still was able to feel, and Keith had to let him know he was there. He wasn’t going to abandon him.  

            Many times Lance had expressed to him how he felt replaceable. He felt like he was the seventh wheel, the easiest to replace. Most times it was said as a joke, others it was in the deep hours of the night with Lance curled into his side, but very far away.  Keith wasn’t great with words so he was never able to say anything other than, _‘That’s crazy.’_ But Keith knew Lance’s anxiety. He knew how much Lance worried about loving everyone and everything so deeply, and being cast aside for someone better. So he had to keep touching his soulmark, so that Lance could feel how much he loved him and how determined he was to bring him back home where he belongs.  

            A dark corner of Keith’s mind would occasionally remind him that it was possible that Lance wasn’t feeling anything from him but he would squash the intrusive thought down immediately. Lance was not dead. He felt like he would’ve known somehow if that were true. Something would have happened; pain or even just the feeling of loss. It wouldn’t make sense if his literal other half stopped breathing and he felt _nothing_. Something in the universe would have let him know that the worst possible thing has happened to him. Keith couldn’t tell if that was what he really thought, or if he was just deluding himself into thinking that was the truth, but he had to believe it. The alternative…he couldn’t think about it. Lance was alive, and Keith was going to save him.

             “Alright Red, when I was out in the desert, Blue was able to find me. I didn’t realize what it was at the time, but she was able to communicate with me so that I’d find her. Coran told me it was because I have her mark. Lance has yours, so you need to do whatever lion magic that Blue did to find him.”

            He was met with angry resistance. Red stopped dead in her tracks and argued that Blue only had to communicate over several miles, and Keith was asking her to communicate over whole star systems, maybe even galaxies. It was impossible.

            “Red, I know you, you can do this.” He pushed. Keith had been with Red for months now, and he knew exactly how capable she was. She was smart and quick, able to keep up with him seamlessly. She could do anything.

            She growled at him, and Keith felt it travel the whole way down his spine. She was pissed, and when she was pissed she was unmovable, quite like himself.

            He sighed, defeated and said, “Fine, we’ll just turn around and go home.” Keith shrugged and casually added, “I guess that Blue just loves me more than you love Lance.”

            Everything in the universe was still for a moment and then Red took off faster than Keith had ever even dreamed of piloting her. He let out a half-laugh half-scream, bracing himself against the seat, and felt a very precise _‘fuck you’_ from Red.

            “That’s my girl!” He was still able to feel Red’s annoyance, but underneath the annoyance laid pride. Keith knew Red like he knew himself, he was her reincarnation after all, and Keith knew the best way to get him to do something was to tell him he couldn’t.

            He rubbed his hip tenderly, constantly hoping to feel anything back, “I’m coming.” He said softly.

✧✧✧

                        “Is he gone?” Shiro asked, coming up behind Allura and wrapping his arms around her waist.

            “It appears so, Red’s hangar is empty as is Keith’s bedroom.” Allura had both monitors on display, showing both unoccupied spaces.

            Shiro chuckled, “Didn’t even try to be sneaky.”

            Allura waved her hand, sending the screens away, “I was fairly certain he would run off, the only thing that is slightly concerning to me is that his communicator is off. Should we go after him?”

            Shiro sighed, “A big part of me says yes, of course. But another part of me says to let him do this.” He knew Keith. Exactly how stubborn Keith could be and especially how passionate. It sometimes made him rash, but Shiro had never seen someone so able to think on their feet and create a plan in only seconds. If any one of them was capable of doing something alone, it was him.

            Allura pursed her lips, “He has to start seeing the rest of you as his allies. You’ll never master Voltron if he thinks of you as something that will slow him down. You are all stronger together, and he has to believe that.”

            “He’s learning, and with time he’ll realize that. But with Lance…if you got kidnapped and the others told me to wait I would take off. Probably even before talking to anyone else. I can’t be mad at him when I know I would do the same thing.”

            Allura smiled softly, a tinge of pink on her cheeks, “I suppose you’re right.”

            “You suppose, huh?” Shiro teased her, squeezing her middle lightly.

            She let out a laugh, “I would do anything to find you, Shiro. You know that. Search every star of every galaxy if I had to.”

            “I do. And so; we let Keith do this. If he doesn’t reach out to us in the next twenty-four hours then we track him and go in for backup.”

            Before Allura could reply Hunk burst into the room, “Keith’s gone! His room is empty and his communicator is off!”

            “We know.” Shiro and Allura said together calmly.

            Hunk, still frazzled, looked around the room, “Okay so let’s go! Form Voltron! Allura it’s time to learn how to fly Blue! If I can manage to pilot a lion, you can too, trust me.” He paused, clearly waiting for Shiro and Allura to join him in Panic Mode “Why aren’t we going!?”

            Pidge came up beside Hunk and placed their small hand on his arm, “We have to let Keith do the stupid hero thing for a little while.” They looked to Shiro, “Right?”

            Shiro nodded, “He took off without us for a reason…we’ll go after him but we have to give him space first.”

            Hunk shook his head, “Shiro usually I follow you one-hundred percent, but I really think this is the wrong call. For Keith _and_ for Lance. That’s my brother out there. Aside from Keith getting killed, we don’t know what’s happening to Lance. Just because he’s not my soulmate doesn’t mean I don’t love him just as much as Keith does and I think Lance’s best chance is all of us out there.”

            Shiro nodded, “I know it’s the right call, just trust me. I know Keith and if we try and interfere now, it’ll only make things worse.”

            Hunk nodded and wrapped his arm around Pidge. He took a deep breath, “I trust you, Shiro.”

            Shiro nodded and squeezed Allura’s hand, slipping into Leader mode “That doesn’t mean we’re going to be sitting around until Keith needs us though! Allura, pull up any surveillance from the hour Lance was taken. Pidge, I want you down by the crash sight to see if you can detect any anomalies. Coran you’re going to go through footage with me. Hunk-”

            “I’ll head to the kitchen for brain food.” He said light-heartedly, but Shiro could detect a hint of disappointment as well.

            Shiro locked eyes with Hunk and took a step closer to him, “No, Hunk. You have the most crucial job. You’re going to take Allura and teach her how to fly Blue.”

            The color drained from Hunk’s face, “I’m going to what now?”

            “Out of all of us, you know Lance the most. You know him as a person, and more importantly you know him as a pilot. We’re already down Red, and we’re going to need as many lions out there as possible. If anyone can help Allura master Blue on short notice, we need the person who knows Lance like the back of his hand.” Shiro briefly looked to Allura, who looked more determined than shocked.

            Hunk nodded, shaking the anxiety off, “I won’t let you down, Shiro. Let’s go, Allura!”

            “Right!” She went to Hunk’s side and waited for him to lead the way. She held Shiro’s gaze for a moment but didn’t say anything, only giving him a little smirk. she didn’t have to say anything, and neither did he. She would make him proud.

            “Alright team, let’s bring our sharpshooter home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. It's been a while. And since my last update...life shoved it's foot in my ass. Without going into too much detail, the housing board where I lived tried to illegally kick us out, so we are fighting to stay in our apartment while also looking for a new place to live, I interviewed for and got hired for a new job, a good friend of mine got married and I was in the bridal party, and recently I had the unexpected passing of a loved one and have had almost no emotional energy since. I've actually worked on this chapter extensively so I really hope that you guys like it. And I want to apologize/thank you all. 
> 
> I am flipping the FUCK out for Season 3, I love it. If anyone wants to scream with me about it/look at my cute voltron t-shirt find me on tumblr or comment here <3 
> 
> You guys are so amazing and thank you again always for your support and kinds words<3


	27. The Blade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This chapter contains violence and reference to torture**

            It was a long while before Red stopped, Keith fading in and out of sleep the entire journey. He wasn’t sure what day it was, let alone the time, but upon waking, he was sure that they had arrived. Arrived to who or what he had no idea, but Red made it clear that this was where she was stopping, and more importantly where Keith was going to get answers. This is where the universe lead them; this was one step closer to saving Lance.

            “What is this place?” Before him were two black holes feeding into a giant blue star. It was breathtaking, and entirely terrifying. There were no signs of life; no ships or bases or a place to land. No sign of anyone or anything to potentially help him. Despite her being sure that this was where she was supposed to take him, Red seemed hesitant about it. Keith, however, stayed persistent. Her gut has said this was it, and he had to trust that. He had spent the better part of his life doubting destiny, and he figured it was time to have a little faith.

            Red voiced her opposition again, stronger this time.

            “We have to go in. If it’s going to help me find Lance there is no other option.” Keith said, challenging her.

            Before Red could continue to fight him, _“Identify yourself”_ emerged from the sound system, a robotic yet soothing voice.

            Keith had no idea who or what he was talking to, but he was just glad that someone had seen him and responded. “Red, open up a hailing frequency.” She protested. “Please.” He added to the end, and sure enough the screen popped up. “Thank.” He said sarcastically and pushed the button that would transmit his voice, “Uh, the Red Paladin of Voltron.” He said hesitantly, hoping that would be enough.

The heavy silence proved otherwise.

            Keith sighed and tried again with more confidence, “I’m Keith, member of team Voltron. I was brought here by my lion for aid in a rescue mission for the Blue Paladin who has been kidnapped. I don’t know who you are, but I am seeking your aide against the Galra Empire.” He tried to keep his voice even, tried to emanate the leader that Shiro believed him to be. Patience yields focus, he had to remember.

            Everything was still as he stared dead ahead. Keith gripped the console and closed his eyes, the cockpit feeling smaller and smaller as his anger grew. He didn’t have time for this, fuck that proverb. “Look, either let me in, or tell me to leave. The longer the Blue Paladin is gone the longer we can’t form Voltron. So either help me or let me go to find someone who actually will!”

            Keith held his breath, regretting the outburst. What he said was true, but he wasn’t in the position to be so abrupt. Whoever was on the other side had all the power and could damn well turn him away if they wanted. If he actually wanted a chance at saving Lance he had to start thinking these situations through, something he was barely capable of on a good day.

            Lance would know what to do, he was the more diplomatic of the two of them. He’d be charming and they’d let him in and probably help him fight by the time he was done talking to them. Keith put his head in his hands, mad at himself for thinking he could do this alone. Lance would’ve brought back up. Lance would’ve saved him by now.

             He was afraid that whoever was on the other end decided not to deal with him after all but before he could fully spiral, he finally he heard; _“You may enter. Come unarmed.”_

The route to the base appeared on Keith’s screen and he sighed, of course it was treacherous. Nothing in his life could be easy. But at least they had answered. One step closer. He placed his hands lovingly on the console. “Think you can handle it, girl?”

            Red took off full speed to the base growling at Keith. Her fury guiding the pair of them to the top of an asteroid safely. “Sorry I doubted you.” He chided. She opened her mouth, allowing Keith to descend to the rocky surface.

 It certainly didn’t look like an entrance to anywhere, but before he could truly take in his surroundings the ground shook and began to split open. Keith gasped, trying to keep steady and make his way back to Red. The shaking stopped before he could reach her, and two guards emerged from the crevice, standing atop a platform.

            They were intimidating; wearing dark armor, non-humanly tall, and masked.  They gestured for Keith to join them on the platform and every rational part of Keith’s brain told him to turn around and come back with his team, but he didn’t make it this far to back down. He nodded, walked to the platform and began his long journey down with the guards in silence.

            After what felt like a lifetime, the elevator stopped and the guards led him into a room lined with soldiers. At the end of the dual rows, sat one hooded figure, the leader, he assumed, of wherever he was. Keith walked with confidence toward the end of the room. If they intended on killing him, they already had ample opportunity in the elevator. He was confident that he was safe, for now.

            The figure stood, causing the soldier to bow. Keith straightened his shoulders, holding eye contact as the man said, “I am Kolivan leader of the Blade of Marmora."

            Holding strong, but feeling the tension at his blatant disrespect Keith replied, "My name is Keith, Red paladin of Voltron."

            "I know who you are, what I don’t know is how you got this location. You should not be here.” Kolivan sat back down and sounded diplomatic, but Keith could feel his mistrust.

            “I mean you no harm.” He began, wanting to preface the mood of the conversation as a non-violent one.

            “Yet you come here armed after being told not to.”

            Keith felt his face flush at the accusation, “The Red Lion may be a weapon, but it’s also my only means of transportation. How would you expect me to get here without it?"

            "I wasn't referring to your beast." The last word was hissed out as Kolivan gestured to someone behind him. Before Keith could question what it meant, a guard grabbed him and sent him plunging to the floor. The guard reached into his pocket and pulled out Keith’s small dagger. Something he carried more for comfort than protection.

            “He has one of our blades! Who did you steal this from?” The guard spat into his ear, shoving him painfully lower to the floor.

            Keith did his best to turn around, which resulted in a sharp pain in his shoulder. "I didn't steal it!” He managed to grunt out, “I've had it all my life, for as long as I can remember."

            The guard growled and tightened his grip, making Keith worry that his shoulder would actually dislocate, “Lies!”

            Keith looked up to Kolivan, his eyes wide and pleading “I would barely be able to hold my own against one of you with that small thing, let alone forty. Do you really see me as a threat with this?”

            The guard pushed his head back down, “We can’t trust him, Kolivan.”

            “I’m telling the truth! Please. I don’t even know why I was brought here. All I know is that you’re the only one who can help me, please.” His voice was desperate. This was Keith’s only lead and it was crumpling around him because of a keepsake he kept in his back pocket.

            “You should leave. Now.” Kolivan barked. The guard released his shoulder roughly, and stepped closer to Kolivan to protect him, Keith’s knife still in his hand.

            Keith got up slowly, clutching his arm, and careful not to make any sudden movements. “Please, I need help finding my teammate. The fate of the entire universe depends on me finding him. This is my only chance, i-if you don’t help.” He let out a frustrated sigh, “Look, there are innocent lives at steak!”

            Kolivan said nothing.

            “If we can’t form Voltron, Zarkon will take over everything good left in this universe! And there’s not much more of that left to begin with! That’s more important than some knife I’ve had since I was six!”

            “Clearly you don’t understand how important that blade is, you insolent child! I said leave.” Kolivan stood, and for the first time Keith heard anger in his voice. Good, anger meant passion and passion was something he could work with. 

            “Then tell me how important it is! Explain to me instead of inviting me down here just to turn me away!” Keith was on the cusp of screaming, his blood boiling.

            Everything went quiet as he watching Kolivan regain his composure from the small outburst. Finally he calmly said, “You seek knowledge? There is only one way to attain knowledge here.”

            “If I learn the knowledge of your blade, will you help me find Lance?”

            Kolivan pondered for a moment, “Such dedication for your…teammate.”

            Keith glared at him knowingly. They both knew Keith’s devotion went past that for a teammate, but it didn’t have to be discussed. That wasn’t why he was here. “Do we have a deal or not?”

            Kolivan stood up and approached Keith, “If you manage to survive the trials of Marmora, and you are the true owner of the blade, then yes, we have a deal. We will be happy to assist you in your rescue mission.”

             “I’ll do it.”

            Kolivan held his hand out and Keith quickly took it, shaking it firmly which seemed to please Kolivan. “Antok, give the boy the blade”

            The guard that had pinned him down came back and thrust the hilt into Keith’s hand, “You’re a fool, boy. No human has ever survived the trials.”

            Keith didn’t flinch, “Guess I’ll have to be the first.”  

            Antok scoffed, “You sure this teammate of yours is worth risking your life?”

            With no hesitation he replied, “Absolutely.”  
  
            “If you’re lying, and the blade is stolen, you physically won’t be able to survive the trials. Your heart will give out before the second room.”

            “It’s a good thing I’m not lying then, isn’t it.” Keith stayed outwardly calm even though his heart was already about to give out from anxiety.

            Antok nodded and Keith wasn’t sure if it was out of respect, pity, or a combination of the two but either way Keith couldn’t help but feel a surge of honor.

            “Let’s go.” Kolivan lead Keith to an empty hallway. “The trials begin beyond that door. When they open, you will enter and the door will close behind you. The rules are simple. You must go through each door until the end. These trials will end in either knowledge or death. Do you understand?”

            Keith nodded, hyper focused on the closed doors.

            “This is your last chance to turn around.” Kolivan’s voice actually held concern, which surprised Keith, but he knew there was no turning back now.

            “I’m ready.” The doors opened and he walked through.

            Keith stepped into an empty arena. A single soldier emerged from the ground, holding a sword out to him, “Surrender the blade. You cannot win.”

            Keith didn’t hesitate or bother warming up. He lunged forward full force, amused that the soldier thought he’d give up that easily. He attacked with all of his strength but was barely able to land anything other than superficial damage. Even though he wasn’t getting any hits, he was holding his own blocking, until the soldier’s blade more deeply grazed his shoulder, making Keith cry out in pain.

            “Surrender the blade and the pain will cease.” The soldier sounded like he hadn’t even broken a sweat.

            Keith was gasping for breath, and holding his new wound. He was already tired and this was only the first out of lord knew how many rooms. Still he said, “I won’t quit.”

            “Then the pain continues.”

            Keith continued to fight until he finally got a lucky shot and brought the soldier to his knees. With that, the doors to the next room opened.

            “You are not meant to go through that door.” The soldier said calmly.

            Keith barely registered what he had said while running into the next room. He had hoped it would be a different kind of test, but the next room was identical to the first except there were now two soldiers emerging from the floor.

            It wasn’t a fair fight, but he knew it wouldn’t be a fair fight when he had to rescue Lance either. He’d be dealing with a lot more than two rebellion soldiers, so there was no point lamenting.  

            “Surrender the blade and the pain will cease.” They said in unison.

            “Never.” And Keith picked up his sword, ready to repeat the process as many times as he needed to. Knowledge or death Kolivan had said, and Keith was too stubborn to let himself die here. He would do it. And he did.

            Keith went through as many rooms as he could, barely scraping by as his muscles ached from fatigue. He was exhausted, and managed to get through six of the rooms before knowing he was in trouble. He was facing a room of seven soldiers and he knew he couldn’t fight all of them. If he stayed and fought in this room he would die. He had to get out, but he couldn’t concede. He had to play smarter, not harder.

            He saw the soldiers start to emerge from the floor, and with a prayer, he threw his knife to keep one of the hatches from fully closing. He ran full force past the soldiers, grabbed his knife and jumped feet first into the hatch, barely making it through before it closed.  

            He had no idea if he was still even in the trial. He had broken the rules and wasn’t any closer to knowledge, but more importantly he wasn’t dead. He grasped his shoulder, caking with blood and stumbled forward. No more of the soldiers greeted him, which was a relief. “Guess I really wasn’t supposed to go through _that_ door.” He chided to himself.

            His vision blurred as her pressed forward. There was still a chance that he was in the trials, and at least no one was attacking him now. He had to keep going. He had to find the next door.

            He walked until his legs gave out. Miraculously he was still conscious, but all he wanted to do was slip into sleep. He would do anything to find Lance, but his body didn’t have the same will as his heart. He reached his hand over to his hip, “I’m sorry.” He said, as he closed his eyes, letting regret and shame flow through his soulmark.

            “Keith?”

            He used the rest of his strength to open his eyes again and saw Lance. He blinked hard, convinced it was just a trick of the mind from exhaustion, but when he opened them again, Lance was closer, leaning down to him, eyes wide in wonder. Keith could drown in those eyes, so blue and beautiful. He wouldn’t mind if they were the last thing he ever saw.

            “Keith!” he heard again, this time with a combination of fear and excitement and suddenly he was scooped into strong arms and his head was resting on Lance’s lap. “Keith, baby, what happened? Why are you hurt? Where are we?”

            Keith blinked up at him, he was wearing a weird tattered robe and looked so beat up Keith wondered how he was even able to talk. “Lance?” He had to be hallucinating, and it was cruel that his brain would try to comfort him this way, but he was glad for it too. Sure it wasn’t really Lance, but he didn’t know if he would ever get to see his soulmate again, and if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t even certain if he was going to make it to the end of the day, so in a way the hallucination was a kindness.

            “Yeah, baby it’s me I’m here.” Lance was crying and stroking his hair. “I’m right here and I love you and I don’t know what’s happening but I’m so happy to see you.”   

            Keith felt his own eyes water, and curled into Lance’s lap, “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know if this is real or where you are. I’m trying, Lance. I’m trying so hard to find you but I’m tired.” His voice cracked at the end and he wished he had the energy to make sense, but he just ended up sobbing.

            “Hey, hey, hey you’re doing great.” Lance said softly wiping his tears away.

            “You don’t even know what I’m doing.” Keith groaned out.

            “Yes, but I know you and you’re too stubborn to do anything poorly. Even though, to be honest, you look like shit, babe.”

            Keith let out a laugh between cries, “You don’t look any better! And you can’t possibly have that much faith in someone…I think I failed, Lance. I think I failed you.”

            Lance pulled Keith up into a sitting position that ended up with Keith’s legs circled around the back of Lance’s torso, and his arms circled around his neck. Lance pressed their foreheads together Keith and he felt his heart surge all over again. He wanted so bad to believe this was real, that Lance was really here with him. He was starting to see it less of a kindness and more of the universe being cruel. But when Lance lightly grabbed his face to bring their lips together, he somehow knew that this was actually Lance.

            He didn’t know if it was magical soulmate bullshit, or magical lion bullshit, or both, but he knew what it felt like to kiss Lance. He knew the subconscious feeling of home and the way his soul felt like it was complete being with its other half that only happened when they were intimate. That feeling was never something that followed him into dreams or even his fantasies. Somehow, this was really him.   

            Lance pulled away softly, his eyes heavy. “Whoa…”

            “Did you feel…?”

            “Mmhmm.” was the extent of Lance’s reply before Keith was pulling him back for another kiss. He was alive. He wasn’t too late and he still had a chance to find him. He had never been more grateful for anything in his life. But something still didn’t make sense.

            “Why haven’t you responded to me with your soulmark to let me know you’re okay? Haven’t you felt me?” Keith asked him when he pulled away, trying his best not to sound accusatory but now that he knew Lance was safe, he had to know why.

            Lance sighed, “I’ve felt you every day and it’s the only thing that has kept me going.”

            “Then why didn’t you respond? I’ve been trying to convince myself that you’re not dead for days.” Keith knew that there had to be a reason, he wasn’t mad at Lance. He couldn’t possibly be. But he still needed to know why.  

            Lance cupped Keith’s cheek and stroked it, “Can I lie to make you feel better?”

            “Lance.” He tried to look away but Keith lifted his chin, “Tell me the truth.”

            “I’m mostly unconscious, which is actually better…because when I am conscious they have my arms bound so I can’t communicate with you and.” Lance squeezed his eyes shut and pursed his lips together. “Keith, they’ve been doing experiments with my mark.”

            “What do you mean experiments?” Keith asked, immediately lifting up part of Lance’s robe to expose his torso. He gasped, Lance was littered with bruises, but the most alarming injuries were on his hip, right where his soulmark was. There were burns,cuts, and gouged out skin so deep, Keith could only see red. Only a bit of the pawprint was visible. These wounds were recent. 

            Lance tried to keep his tone light, but his eyes were dark and far away, “Fun fact, the skin around your soulmark has super healing powers and will grow back within a day or two if someone tries to cut it off.”  

            “I will rip Zarkon apart with my own fucking hands.” Keith felt a rage burn inside him like he had never felt before. Lance had just been strong for him while he had been enduring torture for days. Someone hurt what was  _his._ Someone dared to hurt his soulmate and he would make damn sure they paid for it.  Keith felt all of his exhaustion evaporate. He could take on twenty soldiers. He could rip them limb from limb with-

            “Keith?! What the hell?” Lance gasped.

            Before Keith could ask what, he looked down and gasped. His skin was purple. He flipped both of his hands over in disbelief, looking for his normally pale-colored skin, but only saw the lavender. “What- what?!” Panic flooded in him. “What is, why am I…?” he asked, trying desperately to look at himself.

            “Keith your eyes! You're...Galra.” Lance’s eyes were wide as he said it.

            Suddenly a door appeared in the room and Keith laughed, of course. “Knowledge or death.”

            “What the hell does that mean?”

            Keith took a deep breath, “I’m trying to find answers of where you are, but the people meant to help me are forcing me to do these trials that result in either me learning something or me dying. And I think I just learned a whole lot.”

            Lance grabbed his face, “You’re an idiot for accepting that deal!” His voice softened, “Bring me home, and then we’ll have a proper meltdown about all of this, okay? But until then we both stay strong.” He kissed him roughly, and by the time he pulled away Keith’s skin and eyes returned to their normal color. “I can’t follow you through those doors, can I?”   

            “No, I have to go alone.” Keith gripped Lance’s hands like a lifeline. The last thing he wanted to do was to leave, but he had to. To bring him home, and to destroy whoever hurt him. Keith picked up his dagger and it transformed into a beautiful sword, “’S never done that before.”

            “You’ve never gone Galra before.” Lance pointed out.

            “You’re handling that very well, by the way.” Keith said, standing up. He offered his hand to Lance, helping him stand up.

            “I’m in shock, probably.” He said jokingly, but Keith knew that actually was the truth. The pair walked over to the door together, stopping before Keith could enter. Lance squeezed his hand, “I love you.”  

            Keith squeezed back, “I love you. I know I don’t say it enough but I,”

            Lance cut him off with a kiss, and touched Keith’s soulmark. He was flooded with unconditional love and hope. The two of them truly didn’t need words. “Go.”

            Keith let go of Lance’s hand and walked through the door.

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My motivation was to post this before the new season and I have!! Barely, but I have.  
> Life is still chaos but I'm getting accustomed to the chaos a little I think.  
> I worked *so* hard on this chapter it's the longest chapter I've ever written for a fic and I hope you like it!!!
> 
> As always, thank you for being patient while I update. We're actually almost at the end which is scary!! but also exciting. I love you guys and I'm so happy to exist in this happy bubble of the voltron fandom. <3


	28. Sickbay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Season 7 in the author's note

               “Keith. Keith, wake up.”

                Keith’s eyes fluttered open, but as soon as the light hit him he squeezed them shut again. Everything around him had been blurred, and the intensity of the light made his eyes sting painfully every time he tried to open them again. His entire body ached. His mouth was dry, his head was pulsating and he had no idea where he was. Keith was confused and the ‘fight-or-flight’ instinct was kicking it into high gear. He wished he had the energy to even just leave the bed, but his body could only muster enough strength to sit up. As soon as he got up, his hand flew to the sharp pain in his abdomen. What the fuck had happened to him and where the fuck was he-

                As if they could sense the growing panic, strong hands pushed him down gently. It was momentarily comforting, before Keith remembered that he had no idea who those hands belonged to and his vision still wasn’t focusing. For all he knew they could be Zarkon’s and Keith was ready to lean into the touch.

                “Where am I? Who are you?” Keith tried to scream, but the words that came out were a strained whisper.

                “Keith, lay down. Relax. It’s Kolivan. You’re in our med bay. You are not in any danger.” He was unmasked, and his hand still rested on Keith’s chest and his voice was soft, trying to comfort him. “Your heart rate is increasing; please try to calm down otherwise we will have to sedate you again.” His voice was worlds apart from the strong leader challenging him when he first arrived.

                “Wh-“Keith looked down at himself, desperately trying to remember how he got here. But it was like trying to remember a dream; the more he tried to remember the more it slipped away.

                Keith looked around the room and it seemed to be true that he wasn’t in any danger. He could see monitors beside him, Galran numbers flashing on the screen keeping track of what he assumed to be his vitals. He wasn’t handcuffed or otherwise restrained to the bed he was in other than Kolivan’s oversized hand on his heart. And not that he could know for sure, but he didn’t think much time had passed since the trials.

                The trials! Lance!

                Keith shot up again, the monitor going haywire, beeping rapidly and flashing red while Kolivan’s hand tried to keep him down, “Keith!” he tried, but it was as if Keith hadn’t even heard him. A Galran woman in what appeared to be scrubs entered the doorway before Kolivan waved her away.

                “I need to get out of here! He needs me!” he tried to push Kolivan off of him, he had to go he had to find him! Lance was in trouble and he was just lying in a hospital bed and-

                “You need to heal! You are no good to anyone if you’re dead!” Kolivan’s voice was stern and his hand was unrelenting.

                The statement sobered Keith, and he felt dread creep up his spine, causing him to lean back into the pillow, Kolivan’s hand following him with the sudden lack of struggle. The monitors stopped beeping erratically as his heart came back down to a normal speed. He knew he was in bad shape, but he didn’t think it was anything serious. Nothing that a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix. “Am I dying?” he asked.

                Kolivan removed his hand when it finally seemed like Keith wouldn’t jump up again, “Miraculously, no. You survived the trials but barely, Keith. You escaped down one of the hatches and then almost immediate passed out and went into a coma. We brought you here, to the medbay, and then your brain activity stopped all together.” Kolivan broke away from Keith’s gaze, clearly trying to keep composure “For all intents and purposes, you _had_ died, and if you now want to stay alive, you need rest!”

                It didn’t make sense. If his brain activity stopped, any intelligent being would assume that he died, so he asked; “How did you know it was just a coma?” His lip quivered despite his best effort, “Why bother trying to save me if my brain stopped working?”

                Kolivan chuckled softly, “Your bondrelic remained on your hip. It would have disappeared if you had died.” By the look on his face, Keith had a feeling Kolivan knew that from firsthand experience. He didn’t have it in him to ask for more clarification. He was alive and that was enough.

                Keith was taken aback but what Kolivan had called it though, and had to process it for a minute before asking, “You call them bondrelics, not soulmarks?”

                Kolivan nodded, “I suppose that is what humans call them, then? ‘Soulmark’; how intriguing. Humans are so captivated by the concept of a soul.” Keith didn’t know why, but he turned pink at the statement. “The Galra call them bondrelics because the symbols stay the same in every reincarnation. They are relics of the past and are treasured.” He paused, “At least to some they are treasured. I must admit, I’ve only met a handful of humans, and they all had the names of their soulmate on their skin, not pictures like we have.”

                Instinctively Keith moved his hand to his blue paw print, remembering all the times Lance had boasted about being special to anyone who would listen. “They usually do…but, uh.” Keith didn’t know how much Kolivan had learned about his physiology and didn’t want to give away more than he needed to.

                “You’re not quite entirely human.” Kolivan finished for him.

                “Yeah.” Apparently, he had learned enough.

                “Keith, you are one of us. And whoever gave you that dagger cared for you and wished for you to be a part of us. As leader of this mission that is enough for me. You fight against Zarkon and his empire, Galra blood flows through you. You are a part of this team as much as your other.”

                Keith smiled, “Thank you…and I’m sure the blade and Voltron will form a great alliance. And maybe someday I can join you- but right now, I can only focus on finding my soulmate. I hope you understand.”

                “The bond between mates is stronger than any other. Your love for him was apparent when you took on the trials.” Kolivan’s words were sincere.

                “Speaking of the trials…what...happened to me exactly?” Keith still wasn’t entirely sure how he had wound up in this room.

                Kolivan took a deep breath, “One moment you were dead and I was waiting for your bondrelic to fade…and then without warning, all of your vitals were normal. It was as if you…returned to your body.” Kolivan chuckled and ran a hand through the fur atop his head, “It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, especially for a human.”

                 More and more started to come back to Keith. Lance bloodied and bruised but still smiling, still comforting him. Lance’s hand stroking his hair, giving him the will to go on. The two of them in that non-descript room, the door appearing out of nowhere. Keith turning Galra for the first time. “I- I think I was in some kind of astral plane with the person I’m looking for.”

                 It was the only thing that made even made a little sense. He knew it wasn’t a dream, everything had felt too real to be a dream. He felt Lance’s arms around him, warm and comforting. His soul rejoiced in being reunited with its other half, something that never happened in dreams. But still his physical body had entered a coma. Wherever his soul went, his body hadn’t followed.

                 “Lance, you were with Lance.” It was a statement from Kolivan, not a question.

                 “Yes…how did you?” Keith had never mentioned him by name.

                 “You kept calling out for him in your sleep. The paladin of the Blue Lion, I presume based on your mark.” Kolivan gestured to Keith’s hip. Keith moved his hand away, looking lovingly as the small blue symbol.

                 Keith chuckled, “It took Lance months to make that connection, and it was on his own damn body.” The smiled slipped from his face, “They’re experimenting on him, on his mark. Zarkon and his witch.”

                “Experimenting?” Kolivan sounded equal parts disgusted and confused.

                “Yeah. He showed me…they’re trying to cut away different layers of his skin where the mark is…they tried burning it too I think.” Keith’s voice was thin with worry, remembering the way Lance had looked when he explained what was happening to him; hollow and haggard. A far cry from the sunshine boy who occupied his heart.

                “For what reason?”

                “I think they’re trying to sever the connection between us.” Keith felt his heart grow heavy at the thought. His whole life Lance had been his constant, he couldn’t think about not feeling Lance’s joy and love; his pain and his anger. He couldn’t think about not being able to feel Lance’s emotions when words grew too big for the both of them. Of no longer being able to sneak feelings and messages during meetings or long voyages.  “I don’t know why, but they want to break the connection without outright killing him.”

                “Keith, you took on a centuries old alien gladiator trial, alone might I add, without any guarantee of an answer or survival that champions all over the galaxy have declined.” Kolivan’s voice was soft, and Keith felt it was more credit than he deserved,  “Even if they succeed in rupturing the mark, no one can sever the connection you have to Lance.”

                That was true. Even if Lance’s mark was taken, it could never change how much Keith loved him. Nothing could change that.

                “I know. But I still have to find him as soon as possible, before they do something even worse…. I think his hip may be infected. There were bruises and-“ Keith felt anger swell in his guilt, “I can’t waste any more time here. Especially if according to you the only way to actually severe the connection is dying.  What if they get desperate and just-”

                Each moment Keith spent not trying to save Lance was a moment closer to them doing irrevocable damage. And if they killed Lance, Keith was afraid of the damage he would do in a blind rage. There would be no survivors on that ship if they managed to take the one good thing away from him. He’d kill Zarkon with his bare hands and wouldn’t feel an ounce of guilt.

                His eyes must have flashed yellow, because Kolivan gasped quietly.

                “I’m sorry I just…I love him. More than anything in this world.” Words weren’t enough, but they were all Keith had.

                Kolivan nodded in understanding, “I know you want to leave, but you can’t do this alone, Keith. Your teammates are on their way. When your vitals shut down I contacted them…they are aware you are now in stable condition but not that you’ve awoken. I’m sure they’ll be pleased to see-”

                Before Kolivan could continue, the door to sickbay burst open.  “Keith!!”  Shiro, Allura, Hunk, and Pidge rushed into the small room, immediately surrounding him, before each of them squeezed him for dear life.

                Keith was in shock, he knew eventually they would find him but he had no idea it would be so immediate. If Shiro were more wrapped around him, their skin would fuse together. It was the most comforting thing Keith had felt since Lance went missing.

                “Sir!” A guard came running after them, “The Paladins of Voltron have arrived. They would not wait in the docking bay! The large yellow one threatened bodily harm if I didn’t lead them to our visitor.” The soldier pointed their finger at Hunk accusingly, gasping to catch their breath.

                “Hunk!” Keith exclaimed, surprised more than angry. He didn’t think he had in him to threaten anyone, let alone a Galran guard.

                Hunk squeezed him harder tears already spilling from his eyes; “I am already down one best friend I am not losing another one!” was his defense.  Keith’s heart swelled, he knew that Hunk cared about him, loved him even, but he didn’t know that he considered him a best friend.

                “It’s alright, you are dismissed.”  Kolivan said, waving the guard away, amused. He turned back to the group; all five of them somehow huddled onto the small bed. Shiro was beside him, arm thrown around his shoulder with Allura resting at his other side, one hand gently caressing his knee. Pidge and Hunk were at either side of his feet, all of them together forming a protective circle of love.  Of course Keith had realized he missed them, but almost dying had made him realize how much he loved his make-shift space family.

                “If you ever pull anything like this again, I’ll kill you.” Shiro said into his ear.

                “Yeah, yeah I missed you too, brother.” Keith joked, but the arm around him grew tighter.

                “You certainly are not the paladins of old.” Kolivan commented at the blatantly display of affection, causing everyone’s faces to momentarily drop, but Kolivan smiled, “This is a good observation, Paladins. Your bond to each other is what will make you victorious. Come, we have much to discuss while Keith gets some sleep.”

                 He saw each of them hesitate before Allura spoke, “Our ship has Altean healing pods that would be most beneficial to Keith.  Please, come aboard our ship and our conversation can continue there while Keith truly heals.”

                “Princess, how long will I have to stay in a pod, we have to find Lance, now. You don’t even know what’s happening to him right now.” Keith was frantic and Allura rubbed his leg soothingly.

                She nodded to him, lowering her voice, “I promise Keith, we will find Zarkon and Lance and bring him home, alive. It looks like the blade has taken very good care of you, and I’m sure Kolivan can catch us all up more while you’re in the pod. You’ll probably only need a day or two at maximum. Coran is already on board preparing it for you so we don't waste even one tick.”

                Keith looked to Kolivan, “And if I stay here?”

                “More than two days, Keith. Altean technology is the best in the galaxy. I think it best we return to your ship.” Kolivan answered him honestly.

                Keith nodded, he didn’t like the idea of everyone battle planning for his boy while he slept for two days, but he also knew it was Lance’s best shot, “Let’s move."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Throws this at you after not updating for months* SHIRO'S GAY AND SO AM I. SORRY I'M A SHIT


End file.
